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' VOL. X., Xo. 26. 


July 1, 1893. Subscription Price, $1.50 



TiV- •7W *8»'s* *9^^^ •S'i^ 

=s: ^v.., — — ^.„.... , “ •**•**:/:••* ^ 


THE 

H0aSE TERRIBLE 


AySB^RN rOVNER 


Author oj 
in a J 


Half a Million Acres," "Seven Days 
'ullman Car" " Chedayne of IZotono" 
etc., etc. 


tssned Semi-Monthly. Entered at the Post-Office at T7ew Y ork as second-clasa matter. 

PETER FENEEON COLLIER. PUBLISHBE, 523 W. 13th St., N.Y. 


• ^ '<7i^ *w^ ^i«* <fk^ <9i^ ‘SK* *?i 

“ WORTH A GUINEA A BOX.” I 




PILLS 


CURE 


SICK HEADACHE, 

» DISORDERED LIVER, ETC. 

k 

^ They Act Like Magic on the Vital Organs, 
Regulating the Secretions, restoring long lost 
Complexion, bringing back the Keen Edge of 
Appetite, and arousing with the ROSEBUD OF 
HEALTH the whole physical energy of the 
human frame. These Facts are admitted by 
thousands, in all classes of Society. Largest 
^ Sale in the World. 

Covered with a Tasteless & Soluble Coating. 


Of all druggists. Price 25 cents a box. 
New York Depot, 365 Canal St. ; 




I THE HOUSE TERRIBLE 


BY 

AUSBURN TOWNER 

Author of “ Half a Million Acres,” “ Seven Days in a Pull- 
man Car,” “ Chcdayne of Kotono,” etc., etc. 


Specially writte^i for ‘‘ Once a Week Library P 



New York 

PETER FENELON COLLIER 
1893 



THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


KETROSPBCTIVE. 

One of the sightliest spots in the valley. 

A considerable rise from the general level, with 
a plateau at the summit, of twenty or thirty acres. 
In the center of this plateau a circular mound made 
with great regularity and precision, its ridge or 
top a foot or fifteen inches high, in shape and size 
singularly like those rings that traveling cii;.auses 
leave in the fields where lads and young men sub- 
sequently go to disport themselves. So ’Sym- 
metrical, smoothly graded and regular are pla- 
teau and circle that both and all are attributed to 
a civilization of such immeasurable antiquity, even 
back of the Assyrian and Chaldean, that it would 
make our Hengist and Horsa modern characters. 
But it should be i*emembered that natural forces 
sometimes, in perhaps a freak or b^^ way of show- 
ing of what they are capable, construct out of 
rocks, trees, bushes and earth a landscape, a view 
or a glen that it would be the despair of art to 
equal or imitate. 

From the center of the circular mound the view 

3 


4 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


on all sides is one of graceful, picturesque variety 
and peace. The sky line of the hills far to the 
east, west and south is one of wave-like symmetry, 
peculiar to the valley from its source to where its 
river sweeps into the bay. To the north, for a 
score or more of miles, the view is unimpeded, the 
wide plain extending to the shores of the lake. But 
for this plateau the valley is here one wide expanse 
of almost flat country, gaining for itself arid keep- 
ing the name of the Great Plains, fruitful and 
proliflc with the accumulated richness of soil of 
ages upon ages. 

Incidents dim and shadowy float and circle about 
this plateau, misty and uncertain as are all things 
that depend for their life on legend and tradition 
andi^-the mere breath of man ; things that have not 
been made clear, certain and everlasting by the 
types. 

In the haze of the past that seems to sweep up 
from the river, clinging to the trees and gathering 
about the hilltops, see ! Sitting closely together 
about the circular mound a group of men, shadowy 
at flrst, but becoming more and more distinct as 
we look. Silent and grim they sit, with heads un- 
covered, but wrapped to their eyes in their deer, 
wolf, bear or fox skins. The same sun is lighting 
up the eastern sky that looks down upon us now, 
but the measure of the number of times that it has 
since looked into the valley from those eastern hills 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


5 


no man can calculate. In the center of the group 
a naked figure standing, but bound hand and foot. 
There is no fear expressed in his face and his eyes 
are bright and defiant. 

The sun having risen, so also rises from the cir- 
cular group the most venerable of them all. Brief 
is his story, his manner slow and dignified, em- 
phatic but’ without show of feeling or passion. 

I tell the story of falsehood and treachery,” 
he says. Not individual toward individual, 
but of one toward many/ A speck, a crumb in 
the way of a mass. The son of our foremost chief 
and priime ; elevated by his birth and blood above 
his fellows ; living from a child in an atmosphere 
of honor and purity and in line to succeed a father 
who has come down to us from an unstained ances- 
try reaching hundreds of years back into the past. 
Our reliance, our hope, our stay. We are attacked 
by our hereditary foes from the south. They come 
stealing upon us in numbers that we cannot count. 
We prepare to meet them, gathering our warriors 
from their lodges and hunting-grounds to defend 
ourselves and make a stand against them. In the 
darkness of a moonless and starless night our foes 
fall upon us in the rear, approaching us through a 
dangerous and little-known pass in the southern 
hills. We may have been unprepared, but we were 
neither surprised nor unprotected. Our fighting 
men quickly form and repel the attack so success- 


6 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


fully that not one of our enemies is left to carry the 
tale of their disaster back to their own country. 
Who led our enemies through this dangerous pass ? 
Who pointed their footsteps with such unerring 
precision toward our rear ? He whom I have al- 
ready described, if not named. It is not his fault 
that our people were not destroyed or sent into dis- 
tant lands, and our hunting hills and fishing waters 
handed over to our enemies. He has given himself 
up. He is here. Behold him ! ^S’ace to face, ^^e 
to eye and breast to br^st a brave man meets his 
enemy and fears not. ^ A foe in your own house- 
hold, an enemy that smiles in your face^disarms 
you with pleasant words and reaching around stabs 
you in the back. You cannot meet, you cannot 
make yourself ready for an assault by a weapon in 
the hands of a friend. It is worse than trying to 
strike at shadows in a mist. You are defenseless. 
Truth, honor, faithfulness, loyalty are to be prized, 
commended, clung to eternally*; held up as the most 
precious qualities of man. Treachery is to be hated, 
condemned, punished. Our ancestors left us these 
lessons. Let us teach them in' as sharp and unmis- 
takable a manner to our posterity.” 

The venerable man sat down. While he had 
been speaking, a younger member of the circle 
glared at him as though he would devour him with 
his eyes. At the conclusion of the speech he rose 
with so much haste and in such a disturbed de. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


7 


meaner, unusual as such actions were, that, with 
knitted brows, the eyes of all the others held him 
with dissatisfaction if not a little aversion. 

No treachery ! ” he exclaimed, speaking* rap- 
idly and passionately. It was a plan that he him- 
self had formed to rid us of our enemies. The risk 
was his own. The danger was great. He went 
among them as a renegade from us, with smooth 
stories of our unjust and cruel treatment of him 
and his hatred and contempt for the people of his 
fathers ! They believed him ; they trusted him. 
He withdrew the strongest and bravest of our 
fighting men from our advance and placed them 
in our rear, giving orders to keep up a ceaseless 
watch for his return. He did lead our enemies 
through a little-known pass in the hills, but he 
led them to their utter destruction. No treachery, 
but sublime bravery and a demonstrated willing- 
ness for his own self-sacrifice if the result should 
so demand ! ” The young man sat down. 

All eyes were turned toward the figure in the 
center of the circle, but he was silent, with his face 
still defiant. 

Then presently, one by one, each of the occu- 
pants of the circle arose and passed down from the . 
mound into Wie shadows of the trees all about its 
foot. 

The defiant figure knew what the movement 
meant. 


8 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

Next morning, when the sun again looked into 
the valley, it lit up a tall, graceful pine spar, stripped 
of its branches and bark, and rising more than 
fifty feet in the air from the exact center of the cir- 
cular mound where it was firmly planted. At its 
top was affixed a ghastly object, a human head, 
the long black hair just lifted by the morning 
breeze and the eyes and face still bearing that look 
of defiance they bore but yesterday. At its foot 
was a mound of freshly turned earth. 

Down from tha ages to us has come the name 
of this spot, clinging to it still, in the liquid lan- 
guage of the race, Kanaweola in the vulgar 
language of the day, Head-on-a-pole.’’ But the 
lesson accompanying it is not one to excite an 
aversion to treachery so much as a hatred for in- 
gratitude and injustice. 

Again, and to closer times, for many yet living 
have looked upon and talked with those who took 
part ii^^the scene. 

bn that same hillock and on that same circular 
mound on the summit thereof are sitting another 
group of men, but they are all bound, hand and 
foot, with cruel, cutting withes about their wrists 
and ankles. They are white men, too, sturdy and 
vigorous-looking, but thinly clad and with piteously 
expectant expressions on their faces. Not so much 
of fear as of uncertainty and doubt. Swarthy men 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


9 


whom it would be a satire to call warriors/’ un- 
less with a similar indiscrimination we appl^^ that 
term as we give the epithet noble ” to the lion of 
the desert — swarthy men, in all kinds of dress and 
undress, are -standing or moving about on the ex- 
terior of the circle where sit all the doomed cap- 
tives, many inflamed with liquor, some exultant, 
with loiid talk, noisy, quarrelsome, brawling and 
offensive, and all evidently expectant of some mo- 
mentous event. 

Slowly there comes from the valley, up the 
mound and toward the circle, making its way 
through the throng, which is somewhat stilled and 
quieted by the approach, a flgure, human in like- 
ness only because it walks upright. There may 
have been a time when this thing was young 
and bright-eyed, hopeful and happy, with life and 
health before it, susceptible of yielding joy to its 
companions and Ailing its environment with a lov- 
ing kindness for all, but now — ! 

Bent, withered, decrepit, bony and uncleanly, 
with a few wisps of scraggy hair bleached to a 
snowy whiteness flying about the head, the face a 
mass of wrinkles and the color of old parchment. 
Only the eyes, deep-set under the eyebrows, seem 
to have any remaining life or animation in them. 
They glow like an arc light shining in a cavern, 
with a restless intensity vividly maniacal.^ With 
difidculty, if not with pain, she slowly limps toward 


10 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


the circle, bearing* in her right hand a murderous- 
looking bludgeon, shaped out of stone into a rude 
resemblance to a hatchet, having a short hickory 
handle ; and as she comes, there is a compelled, 
savage deference paid to her. 

The eyes turn with horror, the heart stops 
beating for an instant, drawing all the blood to 
itself, at the recollection of the well-adthenticated 
actions of this demon, as she shuffles noiselessly 
behind — mark you, behind ! — each helpless victim 
in the circle, and, with a shriek that, in its sublime 
fury, would have aroused the envy of the ruling in- 
mates of the lowest pit, she raises her arm and 
strikes — ! 

There is one gleam of sunshine that lights up 
this gloom, and it has shed its ray down to our 
own times. One in the circle, princely in bearing, 
although bound, having the face of a nobleman 
and the eye of an eagle, watches the demon, as in 
her bloody work she approaches toward where he 
sits. There are but three captives left between 
her bludgeon and his life. He has been able to 
loosen the withes upon his wrists, and so far, un- 
perceived, has removed them from his ankles. 
There is one chance for him in a thousand. He 
takes it. One more shriek from the demon and he 
springs to his feet, showing the athletic form of a 
man standing three inches more than six feet in 
height. With a leap, born of despair and nurtured 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


11 


by hope, he springs away from the circular mound. 
The drunken, noisy crowd is paralyzed by his te- 
merity. With childish thoughtlessness, no precau- 
tions had been taken to guard against such an 
attempt. Death behind him, life before him, 
across the plateau he flies and disappears down 
the decline before any pursuit is attempted or 
thought of. Ho gains the thick forest close at 
hand, and is free ! His woodman’s craft and cun- 
ning developed by his life in the new country, and 
founded on reason, are more than a match for the 
mere instinct of his pursuers. In after years he 
relates the incident to his descendants of the third 
and fourth generations and points out to them' the 
spot of his daring and successful break for life. 


CHAPTER I. 

DANDYLION ” AND VIOLET. 

A LAD sat Ashing one spring afternoon from the. 
banks of a wide river. 

There was a great bend in the stream there and 
the swift current hugged the opposite shore, while 
where the boy sat there was a great cove or bay in 
which the water was deep and as quiet as though 
it lay in a roadside pond. 

There was nothing attractive about the boy, 


12 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

except his evident intentness on the business in 
hand, which was well measured in its effect, by 
three fine bass that lay close by his side on the 
bank, strung- upon a forked twig, thdir bright 
scales glittering in the sunlight, and every now 
and then a muscular shudder or shiver of their 
bodies showing that they had not been long from 
the water. 

The intense quiet of the place would have been 
the delight of any fisherman, suggesting great 
sport and a large catch, except there was some- 
thing about it that gave the impression of a loneli- 
ness that was a little oppressive. In any direction 
that you might look the eye was met by -tall and 
wide-spreading trees, whose size indicated that they 
had stood there for ages and helped to make up 
the primeval forest. Nowhere could be seen a 
sign of the habitations of men or of civilized life. 
It -was all wild, untamed, but beautiful nature. 

The lad was ragged, barefooted, unkempt and 
careless of apparel, with an expression, or perhaps 
no expression, on his face, that was peculiar, but he 
looked fresh and clean, and the state of his sandy 
hair was a sure indication that before getting down 
to ^the serious business of the afternoon he had 
taken a swim in the water, not so muclf for cleans- 
ing purposes as for the exhilaration afforded by 
diving, floating and exercising himself in the invit- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


13 


From another point of view he was peculiar, 
being very profusely decorated with dandelions. 
They were tii|;ust in around his clothing and hair 
wherever there was an opportunity for them to 
cling and a great bunch of them was tied to his 
waist. He touched them once in a while to 
straighten them out or change their positions with 
an action that was somewhat similar in character 
to that which a lady would employ who smooths 
down or arranges on her wrists or about her neck 
the costliest laces. 

There was another strange thing. On the left 
leg of the lad, on the firm, sun-burned fiesh, just 
below the knee, one could see — for the trousers 
hardly reached to the knee, and below the leg was 
bare — the mark of a dandelion', as distinct and clear 
as though it had been photographed there, stem, 
petal and calyx — everything except the color. 

He sat there as dumb and motionless as a 
Sphinx, intently watching his ^^bob,’’ when he was 
touched on the shoulder by a small hand which re- 
mained where it had been put. 

He was not startled, nor did he remove^his gaze 
from his bob,” only muttering something that 
sounded like Mum-mum-mum-brurr-mum.” 

It was a girl of about his own age that stood by 
his side, resting her hand on his shoulder. Her ap- 
proach had been so silent that hardly a leaf had 
been disturbed by her coming. No one, unless look- 


14 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


ing at her, could have told of her approach or her 
presence. 

It was easy to see who and what she was. Her 
dead black hair, straight and wild, hanging loosely 
from her head and reaching just below her shoul- 
ders ; her cheek-bones, raised just enough above 
the height to which the European eye is accustomed 
to be noticeable, and her swarthy skin, told the 
story of her race. She, as was the boy, was bare- 
footed and bareheaded, although she carried in her 
hand a nondescript garment Jhat might have been 
a hood or a bonnet. Her dress was only a gown 
reaching just below her knees, and was evidently, 
from the wool itself, of home-made manufacture, 
originally intended for and worn by an 61der per- 
son. Nevertheless, with all these things again&t 
her, she formed no ungraceful picture as she stood 
with her hand resting on the lad’s shoulder. There 
was a dignity in her posture and in the carriage of 
her head, a sad and somewhat melancholy expres- 
sion in her face, that gave her a mature, even aged 
appearance not at all borne out by her evident 
youth. She presently took her hand from the boy’s 
shoulder and gently laid it on his sandy locks. 

'' Poor Dandy ! ” she said, as she smoothed 
down the rough hair, much as one would caress a 
favorite dog. Poor Dandy ! ” 

The lad shook his head a little impatiently and 
muttered as he had done before. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


15 


He don’t know what I ’v^jant to do for him/’ 
she continued. He can’t understand. Poor fel- 
low 1 ” 

The bob ” went down with a sudden jerk, the 
boy sprang to his feet, eased up his line a little, and 
then, with a rapid swing of his pole, landed another 
good-sized bass by the side of those already strung. 
The two sat down on the bank, while the boy took 
the fish from his hook. Then he looked up at his 
companion. It was enough tp stamp him for what 
he was. It was a vacant, meaningless stare, with 
onl^^ sufficient intelligence in it to indicate that he 
recognized her. 

Dandy,” said the girl, ‘'she’s hit me ag’in, 
and I’m goin’ away/’ She spoke as though the 
blow to which she referred had struck her feelings, 
hurting them more than it had injured her phys- 
ically. 

“ Do you understand. Dandy ? ” she presently- 
added, pointing as she spoke toward the western 
hills. " I’m goin’ away to be with my own folks. 
I’ve bin lookin’ for you all the afternoon to tell you. 
Do jmu understand. Dandy ? ” 

Dandy only stared hard at her for a moment, 
with a grin on his lips, looking for an instant in the 
direction she had pointed, and tlien he began to 
bait his hook again. She took hold of his arm. 

“Can’t you hear me a minit ? ^’ she pleaded. 
“You’re the only friendi I’ve got in the world. 


16 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

You’ve stood between me and her hand many 
and manj^ a time. You’ve g’iven me somethin’ to 
eat when I’ve been hungry, and you’ve gfiven me 
clothes when I was cold. I’ll t^i. you somethin’. 
Dandy.” She bent her head toward his ear. So 
you have seen a child filled with grief or overcome 
with sorrow or disappointment pour out its feel- 
ings to a favorite cat or 'dog, or some inanimate 
object like a doll or a piece of wood, and with just 
about as much of a response. Dandy,” said the 
girl, scarcely above a whisper, all these woods 
and hills, this river and this creek belong to me. 
My father has said so and my father never told 
lies. When I get to be a big woman I shall know 
how to get them. And when I do. Dandy, when I 
do ! ” She stopped speaking and took from the 
bosom of her dress a small roll, something about 
four inches long, like in size and appearance to a 
bunch of paper lamp-lighters or a thin and much 
worn strip of sheepskin folded tightly, and tied 
about the middle with a leathern string, whose 
two ends went about her neck and were fastened 
together there. ^^Look here. Dandy,” she said, 
earnestly. Look at this. This is what will give 
it all to me. My father gave it to me and it has 
never left my neck since he tied it there.” 

Dandy’s attention had been attracted. He 
stepped close to his companion that he might take 
the roll in his hand, rubbed it between his fingers. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


17 


smelled of it with a sniff and raised his eyes. His 
look went over her shoulder directed down the 
stream and fixed itself in the distance. The vacant 
stare gave place to a frightened, almost wild ex- 
pression and his arms were raised in the air as 
though he was warding off some impending danger, 
w^ile a jumble of sounds, impossible to indicate in 
writing and of no intelligible character, came from 
his mouth. He flung his arms about, pointing at 
length with them both down the stream. 

The girl, startled at first at the vehement ac- 
tions of the lad, turned and looked. Just where 
the bend in the river began a large boat was ap- 
pearing in sight, making its slow way up the 
stream, being laboriously poled along by two men, 
one at the bow and another at the stern. 

The lad looked for only a minute more. He was 
trembling with excitement. He seized his pole, 
line and fish, and sprang, with a cry hardly of hu- 
man significance, from the bank, dashed toward 
the woods and was immediately lost to sight. 

The girl watched longer with intense interest. 
She saw that the boat was heavily laden and made 
very slow progress. Now and then, as the trees 
would permit, she saw besides, trudging along on 
the banks of the stream, others that undoubtedly 
belonged with the men in the boat. There were 
three or four women, several children, and in front 
of them, a number of cows, several horses, two or 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. ^ 


18 

three pigs and some chickens and ducks. Will 
they never stop coming?” the girl murmured to 
herself with a wistful look. ^^They come by twos 
and threes and tens. Will they never stop ? ” 


CHAPTER II. 

BUNNS AND BUTTONS. 

The boat slowly swung around the bend in the 
river and floated toward the quiet waters of the 
cove, more and more out of the influence of the 
current, requiring less force to impel it forward 
and moving with increasing rapidity. The persons 
on foot presently reached the spot where the young 
girl was standing, stopping before her and regard- 
ing her with interest if not with a little curiosity. 
She returned their gaze unmoved and without em- 
barrassment. The little children of the party were 
the first to approach her with friendly intent in 
their actions. They tried to touch her and reached 
out their hands for the purpose, but she shrank 
from them, drawing her scant skirt closer about 
her. She was the first to speak, addressing her- 
self to one of the women who seemed to be the 
eldest of the party. 

What do you come here for ? ” she asked, fol-- 
lowing out the train of thought that was in her 
mind. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


19 


The woman, for reply, only laughed lightly; 
but oije of the children took up the answer and 
pertly said : To live. What d’ye s’pose ? ” 

The country is full of you now,” pursued the 
girl. Hardly a day passes that some new ones 
do not show themselves, and up at the P’int the 
houses are gettin’ thicker’n trees, and the new 
folks are swarmin’ like bees. I can’t see what 
brings ’em.”^ 

The woman laughed again, and replying only to 
tlie first words of the girl, exclaimed : Full of us! 
Why, for miles and miles we have traveled with- 
out seein’ a human bein’ or any sign of human life. 
The sight of you is welcome to us, showin’ that we 
are not in a wilderness. Does^any one live around 
here ? What’s your name ? ” The whole party 
had by this time gathered about the girl, who was 
watching them cautiously and with not very wel- 
coming eyes. Presently, however, she said : 

My father called me Alita, which, in your lan- 
guage, means a wild flower or a violet. That is 
my name here. She calls me that sometimes, but 
mostly, as do the others, only Vile I ” Then, not 
only the woman, but all the others with her, laughed. 

Yes,” continued the girl, ^Hhat’s what they 
all do, when they speak my name or hear it spoken 
in that way/’ turning to go as she spoke. 

But you haven’t told us if any one lives around 
here,” the woman said. 


20 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Alita stopped and looked at the whole group 
with melancholy contempt. Haven’t I told you,” 
she cried, that the country is full of you ? ” 

‘‘ It doesn’t look it,” said the woman. 

Close by here,” the girl continued, 'Ms Cap’n 
Burket and his family, a little ways off the Gris- 
sels, Highmans, Galatians, Macombers and the 
Quicks. They are before you come to the* P’int, 
and there, I couldn’t tell you how many there are — ” 
A great shouting here interrupted the girl, com- 
ing from the forest into which the lad had plunged, 
and by this time, too, the boat had reached a point 
nearly opposite to that on the bank where they 
stood. In a moment or two more the lad himself 
appeared among the trees, flying toward them with 
his arms outstretched and his mouth uttering inde- 
scribable sounds. Close behind him, also running 
as well as the trees would permit, came two or 
three men, several well-grown boys, an eager dog, 
and, still behind them all, four women. 

The lad stood on the bank pointing eagerly to- 
ward the boat, while his face was turned to the 
ioremost of the men that followed him. This one 
was bony, stoop-shouldered, muscular and hard as 
to his physical characteristics, with a melancholy 
cast of countenance that looked solemnly wise be- 
yond his apparent opportunities. The contrast be- 
tween his appearance and the cheer3% welcoming 
tone of his voice was marked as he called out ; 




THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


n 


Pull in ! Pull in ! Tarry for the night/’ 

The men on the boat looked and did not hesi- 
tate a moment in making response. They headed 
toward the shore and in a few minutes their keel 
grated against the bank. In a few minutes more 
they themselves stood upon the land, and there 
was a general handshaking all around. The 
women had already become acquainted, and were 
chattering among themselves as if they had known 
each other for as many years as they had minutes. 

The heartiness of the welcome was equaled by 
the frankness with which the invitation to stop was 
ac^pted. To the one party, the coming of the 
strangers and immigrants was like the arrival on 
an island far removed from the centers of civiliza- 
tion, of a company fresh from the outer world, 
bringing with them tidings of what was there 
going on. To the strangers and immigrants it 
was like meeting friends in an unknown and un- 
tried land. Each was hungry for the other. Each 
could give to the other what he most desired to 
know. 

We’re from the Jarseys,’’ the elder of the 
-strangers said, “and I’m Abraham Button. 
These are all my family and my belongings. We 
foller my eldei^ brother into these regions, where 
I’m told land is cheap and the sile kind.” 

“Your elder brother?” questioningly and 
rather musingly replied he who had welcomed the 


r 


22 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

stranger. I, too, follered my elder brother here. 
Poor old Isaac! He died broken-hearted.” This 
with a sigh and a downward look with his eyes. 

He had a peculiar habit, noticeable on half an 
hour’s acquaintance with him, of stopping ani 
slowly shaking ^his head, while a still more melan- 
choly shadow than ever gathered in his face. It 
was as though some thought continually recurred 
to him, too big or indistinct for utterance or too 
important or sascred to be ignored. It came in- 
stantly and departed with equal rapidity. 

Presently he looked up again and asked : But- 
ton ? Button ? Hot Absalom Button ? ” 

The stranger nodded his head. 

I know him well,” the man went on. He 
lives only abodt fifteen miles toward the lake, in 
the valley of the Horse’s Heads.” 

The what ? ” asked the stranger. That 
sounds like a name out of the ^Pilgrim’s Prog- 
ress.’ ” 

The man laughed. ^'Ho doubt it sounds 
strange to your ears, but we are used to it. When 
the first settlers came into that region they found 
a great quantity of horse’s heads there, some scat- 
tered about, but mostly piled in heaps. The In- 
dians never had any horses. On ‘inquiry it was 
found that the general who made his famous raid 
into this region some twenty years ago, not having 
the wherewithal to care for and keep his horses and 


23 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

having’ worked them beyond endurance, considered 
it only merciful to kill a large number of them, 
leaving their bones to bleach in the valley. This 
much we are told by some of his soldiers, who re- 
turned after the war and settled in the neighbor- 
hood. It is easy to speak of the locality and to 
identify and describe it in the way I have described 
it. It is a name that is fastened to the spot and 
will probably forever cling to it. I hope so. Now 
as for me, I am Obed Bunn. This is my family 
and my dog. I came here from Buryilk ten years 
ago. I have a clearing not many rods from here, 
and I’m glad to welcome you to Diahoga Coun^. 
The more that comes, the better and the merrier.” 

There came loud and impatient cries from the 
boat, and all ej^es were turned in that direction. 
There was a deep, heavy voice and a weak, thin 
one, and both seemed to be uttering the same 
words. They were profane words mostly, making 
inquiry as to the cause of the stoppage and as to 
the probable time when the journey would con- 
tinue. 

Hi ! ” cried Abraham Button. ‘"What’s the 
matter down there ? Who’s boat is this ? ” 

At the stern of the boat had' been fashioned a 
low awning with short curtains ail around it. 
These were being violently shaken, and presently a 
leg in tightly fitting black trousers was protruded 
therefrom and toward the bank. Its mate imme- 


24 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

diately followed, and then the fig*ure of a very 
slender man with a very pale face emerged and 
stood upon the ground. 

The devil himself ! ’’ ejaculated Obed Bunn. 
^^Jephthah Karkle ! ” The melancholy shadow 
gathered on his face for an instant, his eyes 
again sought the ground, and his hands were 
tightly clasped as he muttered under his breath : 

If I could onl3^ be sure. If I could only be sure!” 
Then, looking up and addressing Button, he added: 

You donT travel in the best of company, I should 
say.” 

^^They pay well, anyhow,” was Button’s re- 
joinder, ‘^and I have to look out for my dollars.” 

‘^They?” Bunn asked. Who’s the, other 
one?” 

Button straightened himself up with some pride, 
as one will who is giving important information, 
and answered : Colonel Brentford Atwater, and. 
he’s come to buy up this whole valley if he likes 
it.” 

‘‘Um! Um ! ” muttered Bunn. ^‘What’s 
Colonel Atwater, a lawyer ? ” 

Button nodded, saying also : ^^So I was told.” 

"'Lawyer ! ” sheered Bunn. "We don’t want 
him here. Karkle’s a lawyer, and there’s enough 
on ’em up to the P’int now. They’re no good. 
If he was a carpenter or blacksmith or tanner and 
currier or shoemaker or hatter or tailor, he’d be 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 25 

more’n welcome. But law3"er, pish ! ’’ only the 
last word was a more emphatic one. 

‘‘Yes, but he’s got money,” argued Button? 

“No doubt,” replied Bunn; “else Jephthah 
Karkle wouldn’t be an^^where around him.” 

“ I was told in Buryilk,” continued Button, 
“ that Atwater had a trunk full of gold which he 
had left in the bank there; that he was coming 
here now with Karkle to commence building a 
house, the contract for which had been made with 
a man by the name of Cameron Catlin — ” 

“ Cam. Cat, the carpenter ? Good! I’m glad 
of it. He’s one of the best of fellows living, turn- 
ing a hand for any one who may need him, with 
one of the prettiest women in the valley for a wife 
and three fine children. I hope the house is a big 
one, and that there’ll be money in it for him. Do 
you remember having heard whereabouts it’s to 
be?” 

“No. Only in what was told me there was 
much said of the Great Plains and the Mound.” 

Obed'Bunn shook his head in rather a. doubtful 
manner, but vouchsafed no reason for such suggest- 
ive action. 

“You see,” continued Button, “Colonel At- 
water came out with that expedition here twenty 
years ago of which you spoke, and he picked out 
this valley as the land of promise. Anything the 
matter with it that makes you shake your head ? ” 


26 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


‘^ISTot much/’ said Bunn, emerg-ing' from his 
dubious condition. You can raise anything here 
that grows. I’ve seen cornstalks in this valley six- 
teen feet high and you can buy land at eighteen 
pence the acre ! ” 

Well, what is it, then?” pursued Button. 

Ain’t there any land left to take up ? ” 

^^Left ? ” retorted Bunn. Up near the Great 
Plains, beyond the Mound, there are acres on acres 
that have not even yet been looked at, but ^mu don’t 
know who owns it.” 

All this time the slender man, Jephthah Kar- 
kle, had been assisting to alight from the boat a 
very large individual, who, with short legs, was 
having as much trouble for a place on w^hich to 
rest his feet as did the dove that was first sent from 
the Ark. 

He couldn’t see at all where he was going b^^ 
reason of the low curtains and awning, and he 
seemed afraid to thrust his legs over far enough to 
insure his feet touching the ground. The group on 
the bank looking, laughed long and loud at the 
spectacle presented of two stout legs in boots and 
knee-breeches, the rest of the body being hidden by 
the curtain, waving helplessly over the side of the 
boat. There were grunts and groans and oaths 
within as a running accompaniment to the futile 
efforts. 

Jephthah Karkle was unable to help physically. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


27 


and could only give a moral support by crying, in 
his thin, piping voice: ‘^Just a little further, 
colonel. A little further. One inch more and 
you’ll have it.” 

But the inch couldn’t be made. 

Abraham Button, watching the scene, finally 
ran down to the boat, and, reaching underneath 
the curtains, with stalwart arms seized the man by 
the shoulders and pulled him with a sudden and im- 
patient jerk to the land, so sudden that it would 
not have been surprising if he had left the head 
behind. 

With a great oath. Colonel Atwater straight- 
ened and shook himself and looked around. He 
was very large, in height and rotundity, with an 
impressive face, deep black hair and eyebrows, and 
cold, forbidding black eyes. Notwithstanding his 
size, when he finally got firmly on his feet he 
moved readily and actively, with a self-assured and 
self-conscious air that only fell a little short of be- 
ing pompous with an innate sense of superiority 
manifest over his surroundings. 

That was like being born again,” he said, with 
a voice that sounded as if it came somewhere from 
far underground. What you got here ? ” he 
asked, presently, as he looked about him and up 
upon the bank. ^^This is not the P’int, Karkle.” 

This last expression was flung at the slender 
man as though it had been shot from a Krupp gun, 


28 THE HOUSE TEREIBLE. 

and startled that individual so that for an instant 
he trembled. 

Karkle had some peculiar actions at all times 
that were as disagrreeable as was the expression of 
his face. His hands seemed never to be still. They 
were in his pockets one moment, behind his back 
the next, tipping* his hat forward or backward or 
to the side the next, unbuttoning the lower button 
of his vest the next, or buttoning or unbuttoning 
his coat the next. He scratched his nose, one of 
his ears, or took off his hat to scratch his head ; he 
pulled at his cuffs, laid his finger against his nose 
or caressed his chin with his thumb. Kestless, 
restless hands — as though he must constantly oc- 
cupy them or they would get into something with 
which they had no business. 

^‘You’re right, colonel,” he said, presently. 

This is not the P’int, but it’s precious near to it. 
It’s less than half a mile away.” 

“ What do we stop here for then ? ” the colonel 
inquired, petulantly. ^^If it’s so near, let’s go on 
afoot.” 

He had his answer from the bank above. Dan- 
dy lion stood there waving his hand toward them, 
and Violet came down the bank, and speaking to 
Button, said : She says they are all ready for 

you now.” 

Colonel Atwater seemed somewhat impressed 
by Violet, He looked at her long and earnestly. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


29 


and as he looked seemed to be studying out some 
problem in his mind. Presently in the deepest 
tones of his voice, which greatly disturbed her, he 
asked : Who’s she, and I’d like to know what it 

is that is ready ? ” 

^^Mrs. Bunn — ” began Yiolet, but shrinking 
from the colonel’s steady gaze she said no more, 
flying up the bank and away from the reach of his 
cold black eyes. 

Bunn ? ” the colonel muttered, looking toward 
Karkle, and then he added, quickly : Come, 

Jephthah, let’s get on.” 

But Karkle had pulled him by the sleeve and in 
his thin voice, that was little above a whisper, an- 
swered : Better hadn’t. No use offending them. 

They have the Bible idea of a stranger in these 
out-of-the-way spots. Every one’s as good as 
every one else here. Better make friends than 
enemies at the start. They might be suspicious 
and lay it up against you. I stay.” 

And so did the colonel. 


CHAPTER III. 

COLONEL BRENTFORD ATWATER. 

The others of both parties had been very busy. 
The men and boys had brought from the boat a 
large piece of sailcloth and with some poles and 


30 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


ropes had set up a rude hut comfortable tent, and 
had also brought up the bank a large chest, which 
Mrs. Button had watched with some solicitude 
until it was safel^^ lodged under the tent close by 
her side. A number of rough pine benches were 
also brought from the boat and set near the chest. 
Very quickly a brisk fire was burning a little way 
off, and over it, on forked sticks braced against 
each other, a kettle hung that was not long in giv- 
ing evidence of having a song ready for them. 

It was a conspiracy of the women to introduce 
into the valley for the first time an institution that 
has held its own among the social functions of the 
locality for nigh on to a century — a tea-party.’’ 
Mrs. Button, in the, course of getting acquainted 
with her new-found friends, had perhaps inadvert- 
ently admitted that she had a quantity of a prime 
^^Old Hyson” in her chest. The intimation was 
all that was needed. The article there was liter- 
ally worth its weight in gold. She had, too, some 
white bread and Jersey butter. What more was 
needed ? 

The men came near by and into the tent. In- 
stinct informed them, helped by their noses, what 
was in the wind. They set the example that has 
been industriously followed ever since, refusing to 
unite in an adoration of the Chinese herb and desig- 
nating the gathering as contemptuously as they 
knew how by the term Tea-fight,” a term that 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


31 


is not heard now, however, with the frequency that 
it was heard a quarter of a century or more ago. 

These men had a more powerful, if not a better, 
excuse for their actions than could probably be ad- 
vanced by those who imitated them in after years. 
Abraham Button smelled what was going on and 
sniffed up his nose, not with disapproval, but with 
more or less contempt. He attracted the attention 
of Colonel Atwater with a touch and winked at 
Obed Bunn. These three quitted the tent, followed 
by thp rest of the men. 

They found the trunk of a fallen tree near at 
hand, and sat in a row upon it. Abraham Button 
left them there for a few minutes, and going to the 
boat, returned at length with a large black bottle 
that in shape resembled a colossal pumpkin-seed. 

^^This is no common corn,’’ he said, handling 
the bottle tenderly. It is pure rye. It is Jarsey 
manufacture.” Little did he think that in after 
years the epithet he applied would identify a liquid 
of such ferocious character that the name of the 
fire from heaven must needs be added to it also, to 
accurately describe its strength and force. 

They were innocent and unsuspicious in those 
early days in new countries, especially where 
fire-water” was concerned, and these men sat 
upon that fallen tree, victims of the man from the 
Jarseys.” While the women of the two families 
were quietly and with entire propriety sipping the 


32 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


drink from their old '^cliany ” dishes that cheers 
but does not inebriate/’ the men without much 
ceremony were swallowing in great gulps the drink 
that seldom fails to inebriate even if given only 
half a chance. 

Abraham Button elevated the pumpkin -seed 
bottle to his mouth first, to certify to the purity 
and excellence of its contents, and then handing it 
to Colonel Atwater, he turned his back on him. In 
this way he went the length of the fallen tree, and 
then rested from his labors. Presently he repeated 
his journey, and again rested from his labors. 
Thus in this wise, at lengthening intervals, until 
at the last he reversed the bottle, and one lone 
drop, with a regretful movement, trickled from the 
mouth and fell to the ground. 

During the hour or more of this symposium the 
women of the two parties sitting underneath the 
tent rehearsed family histories, and the newcomers 
were fully informed as to the lives, characteris- 
tics, family faults, failings and virtues of all those 
who were already in the valley and among whom 
the strangers had come to cast their future lots 
and lives. 

As to the men on the fallen tree, experience and 
observation, extending for ages, from the time of 
Noah to the latest date in the calendar, will inform 
one as to what they did. The effect of Jersey 
lightning” or other milder form of spirituous drink 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 33 

I ■ in repeated and continuous application can be. 
V pretty accurately measured. Most of them, after 
1 the exhilaration, tumbled off the fallen tree upon 
the soft earth and fell asleep, some lying there 
' until the morning, it being, impossible to awaken 
or arouse them, while others crept under the cover 
of the tent and slept away their joy^^ All of the 
women retired to the comfortable log house of 
Obed Bunn, only a few rods away, and in the 
morning had an early breakfast prepared, so 
: toothsome and attractive that it was evident they 

^ harbored no resentment toward the men for their 
^ ‘^doin’s.’’ 

‘ The words and actions of Colonel Brentford At- 
water, in an advanced stage of the proceedings, 
were peculiar, evidencing that something of more 
than ordinary importance to him was uppermost 
in his mind. They had the effect, too, of attract- 
ing Vile to him, who watched him intently and 
listened so eagerly that her eyes seemed to be pro- 
truding from her head in her effort to understand 
him. 

It was even before the bottle had been reversed. 
We did it, KarkT,” the colonel mumbled — 
didn’t we?” He had his arm around Karkle’s 
neck, and that person, at the words, solemnly 
shook his head, trjdng to hold up one hand, in an 
imbecile, warning wa3^ ^^Got ’em all,” continued 
the colonel, paying no attention to Karkle’s signs. 



34 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


‘^Wha’s mirtry titles got do wis us? — ’r Injun, 
either? We’re too smar’ for’m. Shillin’ acre ! ” 
Then he seemed to think a moment, bursting forth 
at length with the exclamation : Such mansion ! 
Biggest and hand-hands’mest whole country. Big- 
gern Van Rens-rens-rens-ler, or Liv-viv-ving-ston. 
Overlook whole valley. Pride o’ valley. Thou- 
sand axjres ’round it ! Bight center Mound. Cas- 
tle ! Ben-nice-nice-ance — ” He hardly completed 
the last word, and his deep voice, harsher with its 
thickened utterance, came forth with a sound like 
that which a cannon - ball would make rolled 
swiftly over loose boards laid on the water. He 
tried to rise to expand himself with the strength 
of his emotions and anticipations, but the effort 
was too much for him. He fell backward from 
the fallen tree, carrying Karkle with him, and they 
lay there in a heap, their heels in the air. 


CHAPTEB IV. 

WHERE THE HOUSE WAS BUILT. 

Kiuga Point,” or, as the settlers and inhab- 
itants of the neighborhood called it, The P’int,” 
lay at the junction of two considerable streams of 
water of nearly equal size, although one was called 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


35 


the ^'Diahog-a River” and the other ^^Kiuga 
Creek.” The river, bursting* through a gorge to 
the far west, swept across the middle of the valley 
and was turned southward by the eastern hills, 
where it was met by the creek coming from the 
north. Just across the creek to the east the hills 
began their graceful rise to their rounded summits; 
to the west and north the level lands spread for 
miles toward the Great Plains and the lake, and 
across the river to the south lay the broad flats 
that extended to the hills far- away, looking, in the 
distance, blue and shadowy. 

Just at the Point, there was a considerable clus- 
ter of houses, mostly of log, but built carefully 
with the joints matched and the interstices be- 
tween them filled in with clay. There was the 
store,” having not a very large assortment of 
goods, but such as were mostly needed by new 
settlers. It belonged to Colonel, but the more 
generally called Grindstone ” Beckwith, from 
the fact that in the pictorial single-entry book- 
keeping of the day he had charged a farmer cus- 
tomer with what looked like a cheese, but which 
on the trial of the lawsuit for collecting the bal- 
ance of account turned out to be a grindstone, the 
hole for the axle having been omitted in the draw- 
ing ! Back of this store, on the edge of the high 
bank of the river, was a large storehouse, its size 
required, for here were kept, as Joseph kept the 


36 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


g-rain for the Egyptians, the produce of the set- 
tlers with which they paid for the supplies from 
the store. Littl^e if any money passed. It was 
a very scarce article. The farmers gave so much 
grain, so much butter, so much cheese, for so much 
tea or sugar or coffee, an ax or a saw or a plow. 
And the grain, butter or cheese were stored away 
until the spring or fall freshets provided a high- 
way for arks laden with these products to float 
down to their only market, many miles to the 
south. 

On the west bank of the creek ran what could 
hardly be called a road, more properly a wide 
path, being the trail left by the little army that 
some twenty years before had been sent into the 
region to punish the Indians; and how they did 
punish them, burning their villages and destroying 
acres on acres of com, gardens and fruit trees of 
all kinds without number and without mercy I The 
trail led toward the lake, through the valley of the 
Horse’s Heads ; was still well marked and to this * 
day bears the name of the general of the army. 
Half a mile or so from the Point, up this trail was 
another cluster of houses surrounding a large, two- 
story log building that was dignified by the name 
of the Court House,” for the Point early in its 
existence had become a half-shire town. This was 
a strong, stout building, two stories in height, with 
a basement. In the basement dwelt the under- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


37 


sheriff with his family. In the first story was the 
courtroom, which was used on Sundays and on the 
evenings of certain days in the week hy one of the 
religious societies of the valley. The second story, 
hardly more than an attic, was a mysterious place, 
where, when the moon was full, a company of men 
gathered from all the country round for the per- 
formance of certain ancient and mystic rites that 
kept the lads of the village far from the scene at 
all times, and especially on the night of the meet- 
,ing. It was said of them that these rites were not 
entirely disconnected with a fierce black goat and 
a red-hot gridiron ! It is not known that any one 
ever attempted to disabuse th^r minds of this be- 
lief, until they became old enough to satisfy their 
curiosit}^ in regard to the matter. 

Up along" the north bank of the river from the 
Point ran another path for half a mile or so toward 
the Great Plains. There, was another cluster of 
log houses, with another store and storehouse, a 
blacksmith shop and a saddler’s. The people of 
this cluster of houses prided themselves greatly on 
having here,, also, a tavern, a ferry across the 
river, a doctor, two lawyers two frame houses, 
and, on a little rise by the side of the road, a school- 
house ! In this latter-named building another 
religious society held its services on Sunday and 
on certain evenings of the week. 

There were two sawmills on the bank of the 


38 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


creek, and there was a rumor that Colonel Beck- 
with was soon to erect a gristmill near by his 
store, at the junction of the two streams where 
water power could readily be obtained. The rumor 
was hailed with delight ; for the nearest mill was 
thirty miles away, and the settlements had no com- 
munication with the outer world except that 
afforded by the river that ran toward Buryilk, a 
considerable place in a long settled region one hun- 
dred or more miles south, or by a mere horsepath 
in the woods leading in the same direction. 

The}^ were shut out of and off from the world at 
large, so far away that when the knowledge of 
startling events thttt make history contemporary 
with them came to their ears they were ancient 
tales. They had voted for Adams and Jefferson 
and Burr, but inauguration day had almost arrived 
before they knew who was to be their President. 

Into such a community the arrival of a man 
like Colonel Brentford Atwater was an event. 
Jephthah Karkle lost no time in spreading abroad 
_ the intelligence of the trunk full of solid money that 
lay in the bank at Buryilk ; of the great things 
that the colonel contemplated doing for the Point ; 
of the immense quantity of land he had bought 
and of the house he intended to build immediately. 

Colonel Brentford Atwater himself very quickly 
ingratiated himself with the inhabitants. He lived 
for a time at Jephthah Karkle’s, who occupied 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


39 


one of the two frame houses in the upper settle- 
ment, but finally took up his quarters at the tavern, 
where he could come oftener into intimate contact 
with the^ people. He was very polite and impres- 
sive on the street or anywhere out of doors, never 
meeting- any one without stopping, taking off his 
hat and saying in his deep voice : 

“Good-day, sir,” or “madam,” as the case 
might be. To men, he always advanced with 
hand extended. To women, he seldom neglected to 
add some words relating to his wife. “Mrs. At- 
water and you will be great friends when she comes 
on here to live,’’ was his most usual expression. 
“ Estimable woman she. Her father the master 
of a sea-going vessel, her grandfather an officer 
in the navy ; most of her ancestors, sailors. 
Ahoy ! there, my lad ! ” 

At the tavern, too, in the evening, there was 
always to be found a group of men in the large 
public room, which was a barroom as well ; and 
there the colonel always found interested listeners. 
He was fresh from the outer world ; indeed, he was 
not slow in letting it be known that not many 
months before he had crossed the Atlantic from 
the Old World ! It was almost, to the settlers, 
like the personal presence of one from another 
planet. It may be added, also, that he emphasized 
the liking that grew up for him by frequent orders 
in behalf of his hearers for a supply from the 


40 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE.;. 

variet}^ presented the bar. And/’ said Caleb 
Ordway, the landlord, with a contented and satis- 
fied smile, ^^he always paj^s with money ! ” 

In entirely opposite directions the colonel’s in- 
fluence and efforts were not wanting*. 

One who had already gained the soubriquet of 
Aunty ” Skerrett, from her readiness to help her 
neighbors in distress of any kind, and whose heart 
was full of loving-kindness, was an earnest laborer 
for the church. She and her husband, who was a 
great horseman, with her brood of boys, some seven 
in number, had in a few years transformed a large 
patch of ground into a rich and prolific garden. 

It is like the old place at home,” she said, refer- 
ring to a spot of ground in the north of Ireland, 
whither the family, it was rumored, had been 
driven by some political disturbance that rendered 
the husband liable to arrest. 

They certainly couldn’t have found a more re- 
tired and secluded spot in which to have hidden 
themselves. 

Aunty Skerrett had the earliest vegetables 
to be found in the valley and had introduced there 
many unknown to the other settlers, French peas, 
lima beans and the succulent cucumber. And the 
berries that grew on her bushes ! They were all 
worthy of prizes, if such things had been known. 
All she lacked was a market, to have made her 
fortune. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


41 


I like to see them grow, anyhow/’ she said, 
and she only made a living out of her labors, with 
something over for her beloved church. She sold 
or bartered much of her produce for clothes for 
herself and her children, and supplies from the 
store,” but largely of what she raised went to 
the sick and the poor. 

Aunty Skerrett had secured the services of 
a clergyman, stationed some thirtj^ miles away, to 
come every other Sunday to the Point and read 
service in the little schoolhouse, and with some little 
help from other church people as earnest as her- 
self, had managed to pay him. If she had had 
only a little more money, the church would have 
a real beginning at the Point and a clergyman all 
to itself. 

Aunty Skerrett had only to ask Colonel Brent- 
ford Atwater once. The little more ” three times 
over was forthcoming, or at least promised, and 
the Rev. Howard Cantine was installed the rector 
of the church. He was an exceedingly prepossess- 
ing young man. Tall and slender, with blue eyes 
and brown hair. In his canonicals, he was the 
ideal minister. He read the service with earnest- 
ness and meaning, and his sermons were thought- 
ful, sincere, eloquent and convincing. 

We’ll all be church people, here at the P’int,” 
said Aunty Skerrett, when she saw how full the 
little schoolhouse was when Mr. Cantine preached. 


42 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


^'And we’ll have a little church to ourselves 
soon.” 

The Rev. Howard Cantine came to the Point 
with his wife, who -was an invalid, and daughter, 
and room was found for them at the house of 
Cameron Gatlin, whose wife was Aunty Skerrett’s 
only daughter. 


-CHAPTER V. 

BEGINNING THE WORK, 

But it was not for these things that Colonel 
Brentford Atwater had come to make his home at 
the Point. They were mere episodes. 

He and Jephthah Karkle had been very busy 
ever since their arrival. Sometimes Cameron 
Catlin had been with them. The location of the 
new house had long before been decided upon. It 
was at the center of the summit of the Mound 
within what seemed to be the remains of a circular 
elevation of some inches above the general level of 
the plateau. Here were also found the remains of 
a small log cabin. 

It was no Yery easy matter to secure workmen 
and implements in the sparsely settled country 
for the necessary grading and excavations. But 
money, ready cash, even in a desert will perform 
wonders. Horses and plows were there, and 


43 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

wagons, picks, shovels, scrapers and wheelbar- 
rows were brought up in boats from Buryilk. Men 
were almost as scarce, but money drew them also. 

Colonel Atwater, Jephthah Karkle and Cameron 
Catlin walked over the plateau many times, settling 
upon the situation, the elevation and the general 
plan, and considering the view and the outlook in 
every direction. How should they know that in 
every expedition of this nature, from a tail oak 
tree just at the foot of one side of the Mound, 
whose top reached far "above the level, and whose 
thick branches and leaves hid the observers, four 
e3’'es were looking at and watching them closely ? 
Or perhaps better, two eyes alone, for the other 
two had not mnch speculation in them. The first 
two were bright, black and glittering, and had an 
intensity of hatred in them that indicated how 
their owner would like to have annihilated the 
three men with their glances. There were small 
hands that were stoutly clenched, short, thin lips 
closely pressed together and a haff-clad figure that 
trembled with feelings for which there was no 
utterance possible. 

The other two eyes glanced from the men in the 
broad field toward the figure near them and then 
back again at the men, unable to understand what 
it was all about, and muttering some words, or 
rather sounds, that no one could understand and 
that were certainly in no known language. 


44 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Once the half-clad figure seized its companion 
fiercely by the arm and cried : Dand}^ ! Dandy ! 
They’re going to take it all away from me and 
claim it as their own ! What shall I do ? What 
shall I do ? ” 

This was not uttered plaintively nor with any 
melancholy intonation, but in a fierce, bitter tone, 
as though she who had uttered it was ready for a 
fight to protect herself and what she thought were 
her rights. 

For a little while longer the fierce eyes watched 
the three men as they stood in the center of the 
plateau turning this way and that and pointing 
with their fingers in this and that direction. Then 
the half-clad, figure began to clamber down from 
the, treetop, crying to its companion : Come 

down. Dandy ! come down ! I know what I shall 
do!” 

In a few minutes the three men on the plateau, 
with some curiosity, saw coming up from the de- 
cline into the valley two children, a girl leading, 
with her long, loosened black hair flying in the 
wind behind her as she ran, and, following, a lad, 
vainly trying to keep up with her. 

As they came closer Jephthah Karkle, having 
set his hat on the back of his head and buttoned 
and unbuttoned the bottom of his vest, said, 
quickly : 

^‘Well, well! Of all things! Here’s Obed 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


45 


Bunn’s two curiosities — Isaac, the idiot, and Vile, 
the Indian girl. They always travel together and 
one of them knows about as much as the other ! ” 
He stooped andTpicked up a pebble as he spoke, 
flung it at a distance, scratched his ear and turned 
to look in another direction. 

The two children stopped in front of the men, 
the girl calm to all appearance, although having 
been running at no slight speed, and the boy ut- 
terly out of breath. Colonel Atwater bent his 
gaze on Vile with an interest so unmistakable 
that before she ^oke she hesitated somewhat. 
Addressing him, however, she at length asked : 

Are you going to take this mound and the land ?” 
The incident seemed so curious and unusual and the 
question came so unexpected that no one replied. 

Take care ! take care ! ” continued Vile, in a mo- 
ment, and the whole was so inharmonious as to be 
striking, the flgure and the voice so childish and 
immature, the attitude and manner so command- 
ing*, the face so stern and the eyes so bright. 

Take care that you^do not take what cannot be- 
long to you. It’s mine. All mine. My father 
said so, and my father never told lies.” 

Colonel Atwater made a little jjnovement as 
though the words had somewhat startled him, 
while Karkle whirled around and burst into a loud 
fit of laughter. 

What idiotic nonsense is this ? ” he exclaimed. 


46 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Child’s play that their warped minds have con- 
cocted ! ” 

With the delivery of the messag’e Vile seemed 
to have satisfied herself, for as soon as she had con- 
cluded she turned, and, g’rasping Dandy by the 
hand, fled across the plateau and down its decline. 
For the rest of that day Colonel Atwater was much 
abstracted and thoughtful for him. 

In the evening, at the tavern, Karkle related 
the incident with sufficient exaggeration to make it 
amusing rather than otherwise, and it passed into 
the gossip of the settlements to be forgotten for 
the present, only to be revived with exaggerations 
not amusing many years thereafter. 

And so, under the direction of Cameron Catlin, 
the work was begun and carried forward. The 
plows ran merrily through the soil, and the 
scrapers took it up to help level and properly 
grade the surroundings. It attracted the attention 
of the neighbors, and was almost as good as a 
newspaper to them ; for no day passed that many 
of them did not visit the locality to see how mat- 
ters were going on. It was an undertaking vast in 
comparison in the valley, and one that had not 
been expected so soon. 

And no day passed that Vile, sometimes alone, 
oftener accompanied by Dandy, did not come also 
to look at the work. She sat just on the edge of 
the plateau facing the workmen, her knees drawn 


t 

THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 47 

up to her chin, her hands holding her hj^ad, and 
her eyes watching every movement and every load 
of earth drawn up from the excavation. She was 
oblivious to everything except the wop^k that was 
going on. It was well that on one day Dandy 
was close at her side. It was growing late in the 
afternoon, the sun being just upon the point of set- 
ting, when just at the foot of the decline where she 
sat appeared the figure of a rather stalwart 
female. 

Ah ! There’s where she’s spending her time, 
is it ? ” muttered the female. And leaving all 
her work undone. I’ll teach her who’s mistress 
this time and whether she’s going to be fed and 
clothed for just nothing at all.” - 

She crept quietly and cautiously up the incline 
toward the children. She would have surprised 
Vile, but quicker ears than hers caught the sound 
of some one coming and an instinct told Dandy that 
danger was at hand. He did not move, however. 
He must have felt, for he could not have seen 
when the woman was close behind them. He 
could not have seen, but he felt, indeed, when the 
blow from her broad hand, aimed at Vile, was de- 
livered. He had sprung to his feet and caught it 
square on the side of his head. It was so sharp 
and vigorous that it took him off his feet and sent 
him rolling down the hill, but as he fell he uttered 
a sharp cry, not of pain, for he seemed to disdain 

k - 


48 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


that, hut one that Vile knew was a warning' of 
danger. 

Two rather surprised persons stood there for an 
instant facing each other, and the one most sur- 
prised was not Vile, who had sprung to her feet. 
Several of the workmen near at hand who had ob- 
served the entertainment seemed overcome with 
glee at the outcome, and made it quite manifest. 
This nettled Mrs. Bunn, and she viciously reached 
her hand out toward Vile. The girl moved back, 
but the woman’s fingers had caught in a leather 
string that was hanging loosely about the girl’s 
neck ; the movement pulled it taut, so taut that a 
red streak speedily appeared in the flesh where it 
had lain. The little roll also flew out from the 
girl’s dress and fell into Mrs. Bunn’s hands. 

What’s this ? What’s that ? ” said the wo- 
man, handling the little roll with curiosity in her 
eyes, as she pulled the girl toward her, holding 
tightly on to the string and by means of it secur- 
ing her a prisoner. 

The girl’s heart sank within her, lest her 
treasure should be taken from her ; but her man- 
ner did not betray her feelings. She was as stoic- 
ally calm as though the matter did not interest her 
at all. 

'"That’s nothing,” she said. "Only the only 
doll I ever had, and I carry her always near my 
heart. Poor baby ! ” she continued, trying to 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


49 


caress the roll as it lay in Mrs. Bunn’s hand. 

Poor baby ! I suppose you want to take that 
away from me, too,” she added, shortly, reaching- 
behind her neck, as though she would untie the 
string that held it. 

The woman looked down sharply. Yah ! ” 
she cried. Take the nasty thing and come home. 
We’ll see about it when I get you there.” She 
dropped the little roll from her hand with a jerk 
that deepened and brightened the red streak about 
the neck, and Vile sprang quickly out of her reach, 
hiding the roll again in the bosom of her dress. 

By this time Dandy had recovered himself, and, 
rubbing the side of his head where the vigorous 
hand had stopped in its fell descent, had come up 
the decline and stood looking first at one and then 
at the other of the two. 

One of the men standing just at the edge of the 
excavation shouted to them: ‘•Come here.” As 
he did so, the other workmen could be seen scram- 
bling hurriedly up the embankment, some of them 
looking backward over their shoulders. 

Mrs. Bunri and the two children, forgetting 
their own desires and situation in the vigorous 
actions of the men, went quickly toward them. 
The sun had gone down and the excavation was 
deep enough to look dark and gloomy. The men 
who had come up pointed down to a spot below 
where their horses were still standing before the 


50 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


plows. Even in the dusk there could be seen in 
the freshly opened furrow white objects that looked 
like larg-e balls and other white objects shaped 
like sticks or short billets of wood. The men were 
all evidently very much agitated, if not frightened. 

^^No matter, I guess I’ll go down -and tell Gat- 
lin myself,” said the one who had called out first, 
and he started off rapidly. He looked b^ck several 
times and saw that the other workmen waited list- 
lessly around for only a few moments, and then all 
one after another, leaving their horses and tools in 
the excavation, were following him down the de- 
cline toward the settlement. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THEBUILDER. 

Perhaps there was no man in the valley or any 
valley quite so deeply interested and bound up in his 
work as Qameron Gatlin, Cam. Cat.,” as he was 
generally called, for he was of that genial, inviting 
temperament and habit that takes easiest to a famil- 
iar nickname. Besides, in these primitive days, so 
close did each one live to all the rest, so near were 
they to each other in hardships, toil and sport, that 
few were known by their legal patronymics. It 
was not an evidence of disrespect, nor undue famili- 
arity, but of closeness to each other that was 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


51 


almost of the nature of a family tie. Gatlin was a 
carpenter and builder by trade and was proud of 
it. Coming from the far east, six or eight years 
before, with some little ready money in his posses- 
sion, he had drifted to the Point and found himself 
the only carpenter in the neighborhood. His hands 
and his time were full at once, and with the expec- 
tation of only staying there a few weeks, he had 
remained all these years, had married there Alice 
Skerrett, had built himself a home, was the father 
of three very bright little children, and had a 
constant and profitable demand on his time and 
labor. 

Of course. Colonel Atwater had fixed upon him 
from the start for the builder of his house, being 
pleased with his plans and the absorbing interest 
he at once manifested in the ^.^job.’’ To Catlin 
had been delegated the duty of getting out all of 
the necessary timber at the sawmill and taking 
charge of the work in its general management as 
well as in its detail, from digging the cellar to 
making and putting in the doors and the window 
sash. He had himself gone down on horseback to 
Buryilk, to get workmen, and in the rear of his lot 
they had put up a rude shop where all of the wood- 
work of the structure had been for some time in 
process of construction. 

From Catlin himself had come the idea so pleas- 
ing to Colonel Atwater that he adopted it with 


52 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


gratification at its suggestion, to build the house 
of stone. Not cut stone, nor stone in square and 
shapely blocks, but ordinary stones of sufficient 
size picked up from the field in which the house 
was to stands The novel and peculiar idea would 
serve a double purpose. The field would be gleaned 
of a rather profuse but unprofitable crop, and the 
slight expense of gathering and preparing them 
would materially lessen the cost of the building. 
Those to be used could be selected with care, as 
regards their shape, color and size, and being laid 
in mortar in regular and uniform rows, would pre- 
sent an appearance pleasing to the eye, of a novel 
character, as firm as the hills and as warm and 
comfortable in the winter as though each side was 
one solid mass. It would, too, have a look in har- 
mony with its surroundings, rugged and sturdy 
and not lacking in a certain stateliness even when 
the locality should become more thickl^^ settled. 

Colonel Atwater, Jephthah Karkle and Gatlin 
himself were all in Gatlin’s parlor this evening 
going over their plans and making calculations of 
the various things needed and their cost. Mrs. 
Gatlin had just brought in candles when there 
came a knock at the outer door, the person knock- 
ing being so eager to enter that he turned the latch 
and stood in the hall as Mrs. Gatlin came from the 
parlor to answer the summons. Is Mr. Gatlin 
here ? ” he asked, almost out of breath. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


53 


Catlin lieard the voice and called out : Is that 
you, Sam ? Come in/’ and as the man hastily en- 
tered, he added: ‘^Why, what’s the matter?” 
The question was a natural one, for the man stood 
with fear in his white face and limbs trembling. 

Come out to the house,” said Sam. All the 
workmen already called it ^‘The House.” 

^^Well, that’s singular,” said Catlin, '‘when 
I’ve just come from there. What’s the matter ? ” 

" We’ve struck a graveyard I guess, boss,” 
muttered Sana. " The cellar’s full of dead fnen’s 
bones ! ” 

Colonel Atwater and Karkle turned at this and 
faced the man. The colonel looked a little dis- 
turbed, while Karkle, with a laugh that sounded 
more like a shudder, asked : " Are they any differ- 
ent from live men’s bones ? ” 

"All right,” said Catlin. "Save ’em ail up 
and we’ll bury ’em elsewhere.” 

"Some old Indian roosting-place, no doubt,” 
added Karkle. " The soil ought to be rich around 
about there, eolonel.” 

"Kever mind,” pursued Catlin. "We’ll attend 
to it in the morning. It’ll be all right.” 

"But—” Sam began to argue. 

"No matter,” interrupted Catlin. "You 
needn’t have come to tell me this to-night. 
We’l’ fix it all in the morning.” 

"I don't bl’eeve you. can, boss,” pursued Sam. 


54 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


The men have all left the cellar, leaving the 
horses and all the tools there.’’ 

Well, that heats it,” exclaimed Gatlin, and 
both the colonel and Karkle muttered something 
full of m’s ” and n’s.” 

And you can bet you won’t get them back 
there again this night, if ever,” concluded Sam, 
with considerable emphasis. 

The horses must be looked after, anyhow,” 
said Gatlin, rather impatiently, as he rose. I 
suppose you’ll go with me, Sam, and help bring 
them in ? ” 

Y-e-e-s,” replied Sam, rather hesitatingly. 

Shall Karkle and I go with j^ou ? ” asked the 
colonel. But before Gatlin could reply, Karkle had 
arisen and seized his hat, twisting and fingering it 
nervously. 

I’ve stayed longer than I ought now,” he 
said. Gourt sets here next week, and I’ve got 
some pleadings to prepare that should have been 
done to-day.” 

Both the colonel and Gatlin laughed at this 
limping excuse, and the latter said : No need for 
you to go, colonel. I think that Sam and I can 
manage the two teams easily enough, and we can 
leave the tools there. I hardly think that dead 
men’s bones will have any use for plows and 
picks.” 

‘^Well,” said the colonel, ‘‘stop at the tavern 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


55 


when 3^ou come back and let me know about it.” 
Then he and Karkle left the house together. 

In a few moments afterward Gatlin and Sam 
were trudging along the rough path toward the 
Mound, Gatlin carrying a lantern. 

It had grown quite dark and there were few if 
any stars visible, the heavens being overspread 
with clouds. 

No one knows what the uncomfortable dark ” 
is, as a child would call it, who has not been in the 
extreme country of a night that is moonless and 
starless. Of all lonely, dismal and desolate situa- 
tions this is the chief, combining the two most ter- 
rorizing elements of which the heart of man can 
conceive, absolute stillness and complete absence of 
light. Take away your sense of sight and your 
sense of hearing and how little ren^ains to provide 
for your safety and how much to,, magnify and in- 
tensify^ your fears. 

The lantern that Gatlin carried was but a hol- 
low tin cylinder punctured with holes not much 
larger than those an ordinary - sized pin would 
make, through which struggled the dim and un- 
certain light of a short tallow candle. 

It was almost two miles from Gatlin’s house to 
the Mound and the way was rough, now through a 
thicket of scrub oak, then through a great clump 
of large trees and again through a forest of pine 
saplings. There was a slight wind, and as they 


56 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


passed the leaves overhead had a different tone, 
none of them soothing* and composing, hut ali shrill 
and disturbing. 

They arrived finally at the Mound, climbed its 
incline and stood at the edge of the excavation. It 
was too dark to see within it, but they knew where 
the road had been left, up which the wagons came 
with the earth. Down this they went, stumbling 
over the loose stones and chunks of earth that 
always litter an unfinished excavation. Sam knew 
where the horses had been left and they had no dif- 
ficulty in making their way to them. The lantern 
shed a little glimmer around them, but it was very 
faint, making the remainder of the place the darker 
for itself. 

‘^Here,” saicLCatlin, ^^you hold the lantern so 
I can see and ITl unhitch the horses from the 
plows.” He reached the lantern toward Sam as 
he spoke, but that individual was literally rooted 
to the spot on which he stood. With the energy 
of an uncontrollable terror he roughly grasped Gat- 
lin’s arm and in a ghastly whisper said : Look 
there ! ” pointing with his other hand toward the 
corner a few rods away from them. 

As with about all actions founded on fright, 
this one of Sam’s was attended with disastrous 
consequences. The grasp had been so nervously 
vigorous that the lantern was jerked from Gatlin’s 
hand, fell to the ground with a clatter, its door 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


57 


flew open, the candle dropped out and was extin- 
guished the moment it touched the ground. 

Some philosophers contend that fright is con- 
tagious, and others that its exhibition arouses con- 
tempt and pugnacity in the one who witnesses it, 
whatever may be its moving cause. 

Under the circumstances Gatlin was excusable 
for the sudden leap his heart gave and the strange 
feeling of laxity about the muscles of his knees. 
He looked toward the corner where Sam had indi- 
cated. There was certainly something moving 
there. He could tell it because, although the dark- 
ness was intense, almost impenetrable, there was 
something more solid than the atmosphere there 
in motion. In spots, too, in the corner, there were 
little glints, of light, shooting up in. gleams no 
larger than a fine needle, and then dying away into 
little glows like the points of similar lieedles. Sam 
was shivering and clinging to him, absolutely ter- 
ror-stricken an(> helpless, paral^^zed from fright. 

Two practical thoughts came into the mind of 
Gatlin. One was that he must get Sam awa}^, 
from there somehow or he’d have a dead man on 
his hands, and the other, that calmed him most, 
that the horses ought to be taken home and sta- 
bled. Sam could never tell, and Gatlin hardly 
knew how he in the pitch darkness, with a some- 
thing unknown and terrifying in the corner only a 
rod or two away from him, unhitched the horses 


58 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


and mounting* them rode recklessly away up out of 
that cellar. In it all, they never turned their 
backs to the corner, and their last recollection of 
the unpleasant spot that night was the sound like 
a sob or a sigh or a moan, which in the state of 
their minds might have been the singing of the 
wind that they had heard in 'the trees. 


CHAPTER VII. 

CONTINUING THE WORK. 

The forbidding and grewsome find by no means 
stopped or hindered the work. Catlin sneered at 
such a notion, Karkle laughed at it and Colonel 
Atwater wouldn’t hear to such a thing for a mo- 
ment. The bright sunlight of the next day ban- 
ished much, if not all, of the apprehensions that had 
been excited and enlarged by the deep shadows of 
the night. The bones of the dead have less to 
make the heart beat quicker about them when the 
daylight is abroad than when the night surrounds 
them and mayhap makes their phosphorescent 
glimmer visible. But Sam Tyler never recovered 
from the experience of the night, in one sense. The 
tale was told on him as long as he lived, and he 
was called from it Bony Tyler ” for so many years 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


59 


that his proper baptismal name was almost forgot- 
ten, the sobriquet being taken as having some dis- 
tant reference to the Corsican conqueror that about 
that time was lighting up Europe with a lurid glare. 

A large quantity of human bones was found, 
many of them, especially the skulls, well preserved, 
and with them, as the excavation proceeded, were 
dug up curious objects of stone, hatchets, ham- 
mers, small vessels and miniature human figures 
and heads, with other trinkets whose use or pur- 
pose was not apparent. All the inhabitants of the 
sparsely settled neighborhood for miles about were 
speedily informed of the matter. 

For days and weeks the visitors there were nu- 
merous and constant from all about the valley and 
the spot *be_came more marked than ever, with a 
significance and meaning to it that promised to last 
forever. The isolated character of the locality pre- 
vented a knowledge of the strange discovery from 
speedily gaining any very wide circulation. But it 
penetrated, after many months, into the outer 
world, and years afterward, when every trace of 
the discoveries had been obliterated, strangers 
came to the spot, even from far-distant localities 
and countries, to look upon the remains and to 
build up theories from them as to former races of 
men occupying the land. » It didn’t make much dif- 
ference that the remains were not to be seen, the 
theories came all the same and found their places 


60 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


in the encyclopedias and magazines, indistinct and 
uncertain as to locality and sense as were many, 
if not most, of the inquiries and investigations of 
the day. 

The bones were carefully, if not tenderly, gath- 
ered together and buried in the earth at one cor- 
ner of the plateau, and the trinkets and implements 
were spirited away about as fast as they were dug 
up. No one seemed to object to this method of dis- 
posing of them — indeed, to those the most inter- 
ested, careless or ignorant of their value, it was the 
easiest way to be rid of them. In many of the 
ancient farmhouses in the valley there are to be 
seen to this day specimens of these curious things. 
Whence they came, ceasing to be a matter of in- 
terest, is quite forgotten now. 

That next morning the digging and plowing 
went on, perhaps more briskly than before, with 
an unacknowledged desire on the part of the work- 
men to get through with a job amid such surround- “ 
ings in as quick a time as possible. 

With almost the first of the workmen to ap- 
pear came Dandy, freshly decked with a profusion ' 
of dandelions, plucked with the dew still on them. 

He stood at the edge of the 'excavation looking 
down into it, with a wandering, indeterminate 
gaze, never fixed long on’ one spot or one object. 
The men did not interest him, nor the horses, nor \ 
what they were doing. After a time he followed i 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


61 


one of the teams into the cellar and ran from cor- 
ner to corner, stopping at each for an instant and 
then ^springing back, with a cry that was some- 
times enlivening, sometimes bitter, oftener pitiful 
and mournful, and ending with a sound more like a 
moan than a laugh. He came at length up out of 
the cellai>and ran from it at a furious rate for a 
few rods, looking around behind him over his shoul- 
der now and then. He came to a sudden stop and 
faced around, then once more,‘ slowly and with 
seeming caution, retracing his steps toward the cel- 
lar, standing again at its edge. His wandering, 
uncertain gaze took in the hollow place, resting 
for only an instant on one spot. Presently he 
threw up his hand3, uttering a cry that was 
hardly .human in its tone, such a one that if 
heard from a distance or in a forest in the dead 
of night would have started the cold shivers in 
the blood ; and, turning again, he fled from the' 
place with almost the speed of a swift-running 
hound, disappearing down the incline of the plateau 
toward the river. 

wonder what’s the matter with the idiot to- 
day exclaimed one of the workmen to some of 
the others,, all of whom had been watching the 
strange antics of the lad. 

And so the work went on and progressed. The 
foundations were laid and upon them the timbers, 
and upon them the layers of stone and mortar. 


62 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Cameron Gatlin took infinite pains with his 
work, as he had an extreme interest in it. 

It is a big job for me and for the Phnt,’’ he 
said. We’ll have a house — a mansion there — 
worthy of the colonel. It’ll be many a year before 
another one its equal will be put up anywheres 
around here.” ^ 

Whether he was a builder by nature whose in- 
most spirit was developed by the business he had 
undertaken, or an enthusiast in whatsoever he had 
in hand, the place and the work seemed to fasci- 
nate and possess him. For the moment his life 
was its life, and his wife sometimes wondered what 
he would do when the enterprise was completed 
and off his hands and mind. He talked of it con- 
stantly, frequently taking her and the children up 
to look at it, showing them how it would look from 
this point or that, and how supreme was the. view 
from this window or that porch. He was ever 
planning some new effect, some n^w decoration or 
ornament for door-casing, cornice or molding, ex- 
terior or interior. In the cant of the present, per- 
haps it might be said of him that he was in ad- 
vance of his day, for in the general plan and detail 
of the work he introduced many of the artistic 
ideas that prevail and are considered novel at the 
present time. 

From b^ing a regular attendant upon the serv' 
ices of the church he cam/ to neglect such duties, 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


63 


goin^ every ^unday up to the house,” and some- 
times remaining there all day. His inspection and 
examin^ion on these days almost always brought 
him home in the evening nervous and petulant at 
finding something neglected or something done that 
might have been done in some other way much bet- 
ter and more in harmony with its surroundings. 

His wife, bred to a strict observance of all 
churchly duties, rebelled at these actions of her hus- 
band, for herself, himself and the sake of the chil- 
dren. On their account were the first harsh words 
uttered that ever passed between them. He cor- 
rected himself for a time in this respect, but speed- 
ily ‘‘the house” resumed its control over him and he 
neglected the church services entirely. His wife 
and the children were the companions of the Rev. 
and sometimes Mrs. Howard Cantine in their walks 
to and from the services ; but Mrs. Cantine being 
an invalid, the somewhat lengthy journeys were 
oftener made with Mr. Cantine alone. 

Builders and architects are born, not made, as 
much as are poets. In humble corners of the world 
as well as in the busy marts thereof you sometimes 
come across structures that are poems, in stone, 
iron or wood, mayhap a simple song, a lyric or an 
epic ; but in harmony, gracefulness and general 
effect, all the same, a poem. Of such as were the 
builders of these must have been Cameron Catlin, 
although his sphere was a contracted one. 


64 


THE HOUSE TEKRIBLE. 


In Colonel Atwater>e had behind him, too, a 
patron who, whether or not he saw what was in 
him, humored him in what most men would have 
called whims or fancies. 

From the start there seemed to be no limits to 
his willingness to second and pay for all the ex- 
travagances that Gatlin’s active mind and inventive 
originality could offer. 

Every month or two he went to Buryilk^and re- 
turned with the funds necessary to pay the work- 
men up to date. The amounts were not extrava- 
gant, for competent men were not plenty for the 
work after it had got above ground. For the same 
reason, and also because material was not readily 
obtainable, the building did not advance with great 
rapidity. 

Besides, the climate of the valley is not as it 
was. It has undergone a wonderful and hardly-to- 
be-credited transformation within the century. 
Nearly all kinds of outdoor operations then were 
entirely suspended for almost, if not quite, five 
months of the year. From the first of November, 
and certainly from Thanksgiving Day, until the 
spring equinox in the latter part of March, deep 
and heavy snows covered the ground everywhere, 
in the forests and on the plains ; the streams, large 
and small, were shut up solid, and the earth for 
many feet below the surface was hardened by the 
frost. Preparations were necessary for the winter. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


65 


as much as if a long- journey was contemplated, and 
uncompleted work had to be protected from the 
severe weather to save it. 

‘‘That’s as it should be,” asserted Gatlin. 
“ Slow and sure will make it all the more solid, 
permanent and enduring.” 

And many months passed, until those who ob- 
served could begin to see the idea of the building, 
as it might be called. The stone was laid up to 
the top of the second story, and, although all 
about the premises were the evidences of the in- 
completion of the work — the scaffoldings, the heaps 
of stone and mortar, a tool here and there or a 
barrow and hods — yet from only a little distance 
could be gathered a notion of the ultimate design 
of the whole, an assurance that the structure was 
to be unusual' in such a locality and a marked one 
even in a long-settled country. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

VIOLET. 

The enterprise continued to be a source of com- 
ment and conjecture in the long winter evenings in 
the barroom of the tavern or on the porch thereof 
in the summer time. Each wise commentator 


66 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


whose observation or experience was the most lim- 
ited had the most startling notions to advance or 
the most curious theories to expound, and when, as 
often happened, the colonel was not present, even 
he himself was criticised and canvassed with great 
freedom, if not fairly torn to pieces. The presence 
of a goodly quantity of ^^hard money,’’ gold and 
silver, in the valley, entirely due to Colonel At- 
water, which of course in its natural order circu- 
lated freely about among the settlers and made 
times easier for them ” than they had ever been 
before or were since for many a year, did not 
soften or modify the sentiments expressed, there 
perhaps being away down at the bottom of their 
hearts, its influence unacknowledged, however, a 
feeling of envy toward one who had infinitely more 
of this world’s goods than any of them or all of 
them put together. 

Such sometimes — perhaps not in these enlight- 
ened days — are the feelings excited in the human 
breast toward the fortunate or wealthy ; and these 
were primitive times, when human nature had not 
so much reason or necessity for disguising or con- 
cealing its true characteristics. 

What gits me,” said Captain Nathaniel All- 
chin, the recognized philosopher of the settlements, 
what gits me is what he wants of sich a big house 
out here in the woods. I’ve thought about it con- 
sid’bul, but can’t come to no satisfact’ry conclu- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


67 


sion. If he’s ^ot a large fam’ly — well, but here’s 
no place for a large fam’ly, if so be they’re chil- 
drun. Better take ’em Avhere ther’ ain’t so much 
backwoods. P’raps he wants to hide ’em and him- 
self away. P’raps he’s done somethin’ ’f which he 
and them are ashamed. No tollin’. No one ’round 
here knows nothin’ ’bout him, ’cept maybe Kar- 
kle, and Tie wouldn’t tell if he knowed. We dunno 
where he got his money that he seems t’ fling 
’round so freely.” 

What difference does it make to us how or 
where he got it,” asked Caleb Ordway, the land- 
lord, so long as we get a good share of it ? ” 

Big diff’rence ! ” Captain Allchin retorted. 
‘^Big diff’rence. I’d be ’fraid t’ handle money 
thet was robbed from some one or thet hed. blood 
on it. Bo’d you, Caleb.” 

I can’t see what all that nonsense has to do 
with Colonel Atwater,” replied Caleb. 

^'Well, we dunno, we dunno,” pursued the 
captain. ''Soon come, soon gone, and easy got, 
quick spent, covers many a case that I’ve heard 
my father tell on. Anyhow, what’s he or any one 
want of sich a house here ? To be proud on and 
lord it over us poorer folks ? I’ve heard my uncle 
say that 'Big houses don’t make happy homes.’ ” 
" Little ones don’t either,” put in Stephen Rob- 
erts, the blacksmith, who was a living example of 
the truth of his expression. 


68 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

^^Size has nothin’ to do with happiness any- 
how,” urged Caleb Ordway. 

Why don’t you ask Colonel Atwater to make 
his house smaller. Captain Allchin ? ” suggested 
Bill ” Timms, the scapegrace of the settlement. 
He’d do it probably if you asked him, or he’d 
tell you why he wanted it as it is, if you asked 
him that.” There was a slight laugh at this 
sally, but to it the captain deigned to make no 
reply or even to give sign that he heard it. 

It’ll come out some day,” he said ^ there’s 
reason for ever^^thing, my grandfather used to say. 
I may not live to see or hear this, but you all may.” 

^^Well, of all the foolishest things,” exclaimed 
Caleb Ordway. Here’s a rich man comes into 
our settlement, spends his money freely, makes 
the neighborhood lively and keeps things going, 
and you try to make out that he’s a robber or 
pirate or thief. What’s the matter, captain ? Jeal- 
ous, eh ? Don’t you get enough of his money ? ” 

I wouldn’t tech a cent of it,” cried the cap- 
tain, testily. ^‘1 want none of his money, nor 
nothin’ of him, neither. What you don’t earn 
you’re not apt to get or to keep, my father has 
telled me olfen.” 

Whether or not Colonel Atwater had overheard 
or had hhd repeated to him the substance of such 
discussions, for some weeks he had hardly been 
the genial, companionable man he was when he 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


69 


first appeared at the Point. His g'reetings and 
polite carriage toward all of the inhabitants were 
unchanged, but they had become more stiff, formal 
and perfunctory. There had, apparently, also 
grown up some coldness or difiBculty between him 
and Karkle. They were seldom together, and once 
there had been overheard in Karkle’s office [some 
rather loud and sharp words pass between them. 

And one day Mrs. Obed Bunn had been some- 
what surprised to see coming up the path leading 
from the narrow road to her house the coloneTs 
large and imposing form. Mrs. Bunn was engaged 
in the necessary household duties consequent upon 
the conclusion of the midday meal. She was more 
or less embarrassed by the presence of the colonel, 
a feeling that was not decreased by his asking her 
in the very deepest tones of his voice : ‘ ^ Are you 
alone, Mrs. Bunn ? ” It was with something of a 
stammer that she finally replied, that she was alone 
and that Obed had gone up to the Point after din- 
ner for some needed household supplies. The colonel 
hadn’t looked at her from the time of his appear- 
ance, and had not therefore noticed her embarrass- 
ment. His gaze had wandered all about the prem- 
ises rather, and, as he stepped to the door, had 
taken in every nook and corner of the room. It 
could not be told whether he was looking to see 
whether or not she was rea-lly alone, or was seek- 
ing for something that he had expected to find there 


70 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


and didn’t see. So far as could be judged by his 
manner, he was a little nervous and anxious, if not 
considerably disturbed. 

I didn’t know but what Mr. Bunn might be 
here,” he said, presently, but it was clear he hardly 
knew what he was saying. 

“No; you’ll find him at the P’int,” repeated 
Mrs. Bunn, having recovered her equanimity. ^‘Do 
you want to see him, colonel ? ” 

“ No — yes,” half stammered the colonel. “ No 
matter, Mrs. Bunn, no matter — some other time 
will do.” He moved back from the door, and, 
turning, started away from the house, going half 
way to the road or path leading to the Point. 
Then he faced around again and came back. 

“ By the way, Mrs. Bunn,” he said, now that 
I am here, where is that dark-skinned little girl, 
that I think used to live with you ? ” 

And now, for some reason, Mrs. Bunn was dis- 
turbed. I don’t know,” she said. 

“Queer little thing,” pursued the colonel. 
“ Where has she gone ? ” 

“I don’t know,” repeated Mrs. Bunn. “Of 
late she came and went as she liked. I could do 
nothing with her. She got beyond me.” 

“How long since you have seen her? ” contin- 
ued the colonel. 

Mrs. Bunn looked at him sharply. “ Weeks 
and weeks ago,” she at length replied. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


71 


Where ? ’’ persisted the colonel. 

Mrs. Bunn hesitated a moment. Well/’ she 
said, testily, if you must know, it was in the cellar 
you were digging* for ‘ the house.’ The night was 
coming on fast: we, that is, Dandy and me, tried 
to get her to come out and come with us, but she 
wouldn’t; so we came and left her there.” 

And you haven’t seen her since ? ” 

Mrs. Bunn shook her head. 

Nor inquired about her ? ” 

Mrs, Bunn again shook her head. 

Colonel Atwater looked at her with some con- 
cern. 

What was she to you ? ” he asked, presently. 

Nothing at all. Worse than nothing at all. 
Useless,” said Mrs. Bunn, somewhat impatiently. 

She wasn’t worth her clothes and keep. But she 
can look out for herself. No harm could ever over- 
take her. She was quicker’n lightning and as 
bright as the bottom of one of my new tin pans.” 

Withal, it was evident that the woman was 
trying to excuse herself rather to herself than to 
the colonel. - 

^^Are you interested in her? ” she asked, con-% 
tinning. Perhaps you’d like to know more of 
her.” 

The colonel was silent, but had a listening atti- 
tude and a listening look in his eyes. Perceiving 
these, Mrs. Bunn proceeded : Her father was 


72 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

half Indian by bk)od, whole Indian by nature. They 
lived when I came here seven years ago — Obed had 
come several years before that — on the other side 
of the river at the foot of the hills in a warm and 
sheltered spot. She was about six years old then. 
He fished and hunted and both of them half starved. 
They would have wholly starved or been frozen ex- 
cept for the settlers, who provided for them in re- 
turn for such things as he could give them in the 
way of fish and furs, and because he was useful in 
keeping other Indians away, as he had great influ- 
ence with them and they had great fear toward 
him. He wouldn’t go away with them, for he had 
some crazy notion that the valley belonged to him. 
He acted sometimes as though it really did. A 
very little bit of liquor made him a great chief, and 
he went about in feathers and paint, ordering the 
settlers away from the locality by such a date, or 
they would all be massacred, as they had been at 
Minnisink and Cherry Valley. But he was only 
laughed at for his foolishness, and when the day he 
had set arrived he was as humble and pitiful and 
hungr}^ as ever. They were our nearest neighbors, 
if you. can call such neighbors, for some time. Our 
Dandy was there from the first. We took him 
from^there. If he was gone and we wanted him, 
we’d always find him there. We soon found it was 
the safest place he could be in. Ho harm could 
come to him with Vile’s sharp eyes on him all the 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


73 


time, and her father learned him a good many 
things that no one else could have learned him — 
fishing and the like. 

Sometimes Dandy sta3"ed there nights. After 
the first time or two we were not alarmed or in 
fear on account of his absence. One morning he 
came home at daj^break, uttering the most terrible 
cries. We tried to quiet him, but it was of no use. 
Obed got an idea in his head that they had abused 
or injured the bo}^ in some wa^^ and, taking his 
gun, he crossed the river and went to their cabin. 
It was ver^^ quiet there ; the door was half opened. 
He pushed it all open and looked in. Vile sat in 
one corner of the hut holding her father’s head in 
her lap. Her eyes shown like those of a wildcat 
disturbed among her jmung. She wouldn’t let 
Obed approach, waving him away with her hand 
in a fierce manner. He didn’t want to approach, 
for he saw what the matter was. He came after 
me and we took Dand}^ with us back to the hut. 
Without him we would hardly have been able in 
some length of time to get Vile away from the dead 
body of her father. We got some of the neigh- 
bors together and we buried him right there where 
he died, in the ground underneath where his hut 
stood. Vile said he wanted it so, and he owned 
that spot, anyhow. There was nowhere else for 
Vile to go, so she came here. It was a sorry day 
for me, for there did not seem ever to be any work 


74 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


in her. She couldn’t do a thing* about the house, 
and if in a fit of gratitude for what we had done 
for her — which she had a few times — she under- 
took to do anything, she spoiled it. I’m glad to 
be well rid of her, if I am rid of her ; but I do not 
doubt but whaC she’ll come back presently — tired, 
hungry and ragged. 

'^Now, colonel,” Mrs. Bunn concluded, ^^you 
know as much about her as any one does, except 
that she was proud, careless, obstinate, lazy, ag- 
gravating always, and sometimes im|)udent and 
impertinent.” 

Colonel Atwater had listened with unmis^kable 
but not absorbing interest to the recital, and at 
its conclusion, without a word, turned away from 
the door. Stopping and looking back, however, he 
said : 

It isn’t necessary, Mrs. Bunn, to refer to this 
at any time or to mention to any one that I asked 
about her. It’s only a mere matter of curiosity on 
my part.” Then he passed on to the path mur- 
muring to himself in his deep voice : Queer little 
thing. Queer little thing.” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


75 


CHAPTER IX. 

WHY THE WORK STOPPED. 

Just before the winter set in all work at the 
house ’’ stopped and the premises were boarded up 
and covered completely. When the snow fell they 
looked like a great white mound or, as Captain All- 
chin once observed, like a sepulcher.’’ The win- 
ter was occupied by the men in the shop getting 
out the interior woodwork ready to be put up. The 
first fall. Colonel Atwater had gone away to supply 
himself with funds, and returning, settlement wdth 
Catlin and the men at work had been made up to 
the date of its stoppage. Colonel Atwater had 
gone away then and remained the whole winter — 
indeed, until the time came in the spring to resume 
operations. 

In this fall, weeks before the usual closing of 
the season, Colonel Atwater again went away 
from the Point, supposabl}^ with the intention of 
doing as he had done the year before. 

He'never came back ! 

The usual heavy rains that came to fill up the 
swamps,” which had to be done every season before 
winter could by any possibility arrive fully equipped 
to stay, had come much earlier that fall than ever 


76 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


before, and the streams speedily felt their effects. 
The little brooks along the hillsides came tumbling 
down into the valley in greatly increased volume ; 
the larger creeks took up the water, swelling to 
more than bank full and roaring on their way 
toward the great river which swung along in an 
ocean-like current, seeming almost alive with its 
accelerated motion, and uttering a sound that 
seemed to be a song of rejoicing in its might.” 

Colonel Atwater stepped in his boat from the 
bank just below Colonel Beckwith’s storehouse. 
Karkle and Catlin were there to see him off. 

ITl be there to-morrow night, with this cur- 
rent,” said Colonel Atwater. 

And youTl only have to keep at its edge, at 
that,” added Karkle. 

The boat was a stout skiff, built with a flat bot- 
tom and a curved bow. It was wide and roomy, 
and the presence of even as large a man as Colonel 
Atwater in it made no impression upon its buoy- 
ancy, except, perhaps, to make it rock and tumble 
the more in the waves that were washed up to the 
bank. 

The seat at the stern was cushioned and so large 
as to be almost a lounge, and there were places on 
the gunwales alongside it for standards, to which 
could be hoisted an awning if one was required. 
The whole interior of the boat, with pieces of rag 
carpet in the bottom and padded sides, was evi- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


dently arranged for the comfort of those who 
might occupy it. 

Hadn’t you better let Hector go along with 
you ? ” Catlin asked. The current is pretty 
stiff, and you might get into trouble.” 

Ho ! ” cried the colonel. ‘^I’m no land lub- 
ber. I haven’t been up and down the river so 
many times within the past two or three years that 
I should need help to navigate a little thing like 
this. Besides, jmu’ll need every man you’ve got 
to finish up what is necessary to do before the win- 
ter sets in.” He arranged the articles in the boat 
as he spoke — a small box containing letters that he 
carried to forward from Buryilk, a trunk in which 
were his clothes, a large wolf robe, an umbrella and 
an overcoat. He seated himself at the stern, took 
the tiller in his right hand and called to Catlin to 
push him out. Both Catlin and Karkle seized- the 
stern of the boat and gave it a vigorous shove. 
The bow caught the outer edge of the current, 
slowly swung round into it, and, answering the 
motion of the tiller, moved off toward the east. 

A number of laborers loading an ark for Grin’- 
stone ” Beckwith just below stopped work, a group 
of persons on the top of the bank and Catlin and 
Karkle watched the little bark as, with speedily 
accelerated motion, it felt the swift current, and 
continued to watch it until it disappeared around 
the bend made at the foot of the eastern hills. 


78 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Colonel Atwater had called out^ as he swung 
into the current : 

I’ll be back the latter part of the month ! ” 
The colonel, sitting quietly in the stern, was 
very complacent. He thought there was nothing 
more exhilarating than swift motion without effort, 
and gradually, with a confidence born of desire, 
pulled more and more toward the center of 
the current. Something seemed to say to him : 
'^Swifter, swifter ! ” 

He was watchful of his course, although there 
was nothing to make him apprehensive. It was 
not the first time that he had made such a journey, 
although never when the river was so exuberant. 

N. 

There was an excitement about it that stirred him 
as a man is seldom stirred. The absolute solitude 
in which he found himself increased his feelings. 
He felt like calling out in answer to the mighty 
rush and swing of the mass of moving water by 
which he was surrounded. The thick forests on 
each bank; the graceful hills in the distance, all 
looking so lonesome and untenanted, and the deep 
waters all about him, made him feel so small in 
comparison, and yet so strong in himself. They 
seemed not to notice nor care for him, a mere mite, 
a speck in the midst of so mucli magnificent nat- 
ural grandeur. And yet, he felt that he could 
subdue them all and wanted to cry out : Here 
am I. Look at me. I can conquer you all ! ” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


79 


It was hardly an hour from the Point and he 
was in the very middle of the current, sweeping- 
along* with exciting- rapidity. He had noticed from 
a distance, as he approached, a peculiar object just 
in his course. As he came nearer, its lines became 
clearer and he saw it was a great tree that in 
some way had become anchored, its roots mayhap 
caught in the crevice of some great rock at the 
bottom of the river, and it was breasting the 
waves like a live thing, the spray dashing up 
against it, tossed high in the air. It was a picture 
in itself that, transferred to the canvas, would have 
made the fame and fortune of an artist. 

'I'he colonel thought he would pull as closely as 
possible, to get a good look at the attractive ob- 
ject. A man could have such a chance but once in 
his life. He let his ^ boat fly directly forward, in- 
tending to pull to one side at the proper moment. 
He thought he could measure with his eye the dis- 
tance, and judge of his velocity. 

On he came. He was fairly fascinated by the 
spectacle, but he kept his head, with his hand 
firmly grasping the tiller of his boat. 

The moment to turn came. He gave his tiller 
a sudden and tremendous wrench to. the right, and 
sat paralyzed at the result. He held only a bro- 
ken piece of wood in his hand ! The implement 
had parted with the post that connected it with 
the rudder ! 


80 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


In an instant more the boat dashed into the 
tree, the rough branches tearing his face and eyes 
and clothes, and the spray blinding and bewilder- 
ing him. As sometimes, too, the mere touch of a 
child will dislodge and send a huge rock tumbling 
down the hillside, so the shock and stroke of the 
boat, small as they were in comparison with the 
mass before them, loosened the anchorage of the 
immense tree. It gave one great shudder, moved 
a • little forward, and then, with a sudden lurch, 
with the force of the volume of water driving it 
from beneath, turned completely over, carrying 
underneath it the boat and all that it contained. 

And the great river went roaring on toward 

f 

the ocean, terrible in its uncontrollable force and 
strength, and magnificent in its godlike grace and 
beauty. 

In all the suddenness of the disaster there had 
been but one cry of horror an4 anguish. It fiew 
across the tumbling waters, even above their roar, 
and found its way into the forest nearest at hand. 

There was a small hut in a secluded spot at the 
foot of the hills. It had never been much of a 
tenement at its best, but it was a mere decayed 
and decaying shell now. A lad was there carry- 
ing in his arms great bunches of dandelions. Cau- 
tiously he approached the hut and peeped in at the 
doorwa^^ The quiet and silence were so oppressive 
that well-atuned ears would have rung with it. In 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


81 


one corner was a slightly raised mound of earth. 
The lad, tiptoeing and looking around as he en- 
tered, went to the mound and laid his bunch of 
dandelions upon it. Then, still looking around, he 
retraced his steps. Standing in the doorway, he 
heard the cry. He looked wildly this way and 
that for an instant, and then started on a run 
toward the bank of the river. It was only a few 
rods away. His eyes took in and his meager intel- 
ligence partially grasped the meaning thereof, the 
sight of a tree in mid-river, trembling and shaking 
for a moment in the current and then going over 
withies force, a boat in its branches and a large, 
dark object, overcome and helpless, going down 
into the waves. 

I wonder what ails Dandy again to-night,’’ 
said Mrs. Bunn to Obed. He came home this 
morning making noises as fearful as he did when 
Vile’s father died. He was gone half a dozen times 
during the day, coming back every time with the 
same if not worse cries. Just you look at him 
jumping around in his sleep all the time and con- 
stantly groaning ! ” 


82 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


CHAPTER X. 

KARKLE FIXES IT. 

Nevertheless, the work was continued, the 
workmen and he at their head ig-norant that the 
moving* hand and head of it all would never again 
return. The time in his absence passed from its 
measurement by days into a computation of it by 
weeks. A pay day came when there was nothing 
to satisfy the demands of the workmen. Little was 
thought of this, for the entire responsibility of their 
employer had never been questioned, although, in 
fact, it had never been tried, and the account at 
the store could easily run another week or another 
fortnight. A second" pay day passed, and for the 
moment there was some anxiety expressed by a 
nuipber of the men, which was allayed by Gatlin 
with the expression, more a suggestion or a hope, 
that another week would put an end to their sus- 
pense and expectation. A third Saturday came 
when, what had been mere murmurs, became loud 
expostulations and demands. The scores at the 
store had grown to unpleasant and alarming di- 
mensions ; the horses needed feed and the children 
shoes. It was with increased difficulty that Gatlin 
quieted and subdued these complaints with refer- 
ences to next Saturday" — sure, which he had not a 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


83 


shadow to support, except the past promptness and 
g-enerosity of Colonel Atwater. 

And the fourth pay day came. Around Gat- 
lin’s shop came a tumultuous and now grown-angry 
mob. The weather had begun to grow chilly, with 
heavy frosts at night, indicating the approach of 
the winter season and the consequent shutting 
down of all the work. Many of the men depended 
upon these latter weeks of the working season and 
some little sums that thej^ had allowed to accumu- 
late during the summer to help carry them through 
the winter. If they should lose all, it meant hard- 
ship, even distress, to them and their families. 

Gatlin pleaded with them to go on for another 
week. He was himself in the same strait with 
them all. Colonel Atwater’s absence could not as- 
suredly^ run beyond the time when the work usu- 
ally ceased. And on his return they would shut 
down for the season and then all would be paid in 
full, to the last penny. 

All this time the strain on Gatlin had been 
heavier and more than the mere settlement with 
the men. 

There had that happened to him which he could 
not understand, and the influence of which, strug- 
gle with it as he might, he could not shake off. 
‘"The house” seemed to have tightened its grip 
upon him so far as to engross his waking and 
sleeping thoughts, to the exclusion of everything 


84 


/' 

THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

else. It grew to be a part of himself, and as it ad- 
vanced it seemed to him that he gave so much the 
more of himself to it, so much the more of his life, 
of his very being. When, in the spring, he had 
had the coverings of board taken from it that the 
work might be resumed where it had been sus. 
pended, it seemed as though the structure looked 
at him with an evil eye, and shook itself warningly 
at him like an aroused giant, a notion not the less 
real because a light fall of sugar snow ’’ of the 
night before came tumbling from the boards, look- 
ing not unlike gray hairs shaken at him. Earliest 
in the morning, even before any of the workmen, 
he was on the ground ; latest in the evening, when 
all the others had gone, he was there. Weary 
spirits are said sometimes to haunt places to which 
they have been attached. In the case of Gatlin 
it would be difficult to determine which did it ; 
whether he haunted the place or the place haunted 
him. 

One night long after midnight he woke his 
wife with a start, and seeing him up and dressing 
himself, she asked him what under the moon, he 
was doing and where he was going. 

‘'Alice,’’ he answered, quietly, but firmly, “I 
dreamed that the walls had fallen ! It is as vivid 
to me as though I stood looking at the heap of 
ruins they made. I am going up to see.” 

“ What foolishness ! ” cried his wife. “ If they 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


85 


have fallen, they^ll be there in the morning', and 
you’ll have to put them up ag*ain, after all.” 

He said no more, but, quietly finishing dressing, 
he went as quietly out of the house and toward the 
grounds. His wife thought afterward that he 
seemed in his movement and speech like one still 
in his dream or one walking in his sleep. 

A very slender strip of a new moon hung low 
in the western sky and lit up the whole surround- 
ings 'of the house ” with a dim, subdued, melan- 
choly light, scarcely able to make dfstinct where 
the line of the shadows began or left off. Every- 
thing was as it had been left when work for the day 
had ceased, the walls looking as solid and perma- 
nent as the everlasting hills that shut in the valley. 

Gatlin walked around the building, stopping at 
each side to look up at the walls. The east side 
was in the darkness of the darkest shadow of the 
night. He stood there, looking at the wall as it 
loomed up, faintly outlined by the moonlight. 
Suddenly and with no premonition of its coming, 
there was a rattle of mortar, earth, stone and 
nails, and something fell within with a clatter and 
ringing intonation apparently from the highest 
point completed, even to the cellar. There was a 
dripping for a minute or two as of the dust or 
smaller particles following a larger body and then 
complete silence more absorbing than that which 
hrad preceded the noise. 


86 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


With a vivid dream still fresh in his heart, Gat- 
lin stepped back and threw up his hands, expecting 
every moment to see what had come to him in his 
sleep verified. But that was all. 

He listened a moment longer and then went 
toward the front of the house, climbing up the 
plank that led to the main door. It is not too 
much to sa 3 ^ that he knew every stick of timber, al- 
most every stone in the whole building. Unfinished 
as it was, he could, in the darkness as in the light, 
go over ever5" portion of it without danger of acci- 
dent. Leaning one of his hands against the door- 
post, he looked within in the gloom. There \vas a 
stra^’’ ray of moonlight here and there on the lower 
floor, shining through the windows, and broad 
patches of it on the upper floor where it fell 
through the unfinished walls. As he looked, strain- 
ing his eyes to see what had fallen, he was sure 
that a shadow crossed one of these broad patches. 
His eyes gave him assurance of the fact, but his 
ears did not confirm it, for there was no sound fol- 
lowing the movement. A courage that had for its 
foundation a dertermination to protect ^The house” 
from aiw ill-fortune or depredation, led him to the 
foot of the temporary flight of stairs or mere lad- 
der-like convenience leading from the lower to the 
upper story. 

He ascended lightly" and quickly and had only 
time to look around and see that all through the 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 87 

upper floor, which was entirely exposed to his 
view, there was no sign of an^^ creature that could 
make a moving shadow. And then the slender 
strip of moon went down behind the western hills. 

Gatlin began to descend the ladder, going down 
much slower than he had gone up. He stopped 
when only half way in his descent, for now it was 
the turn of his ears to appeal to him. His eyes had 
done their duty, but they had become helpless. He 
could see nothing in the deep and deepening gloom, 
except through the doorwaj^ where the darkness 
was only a little less pronounced than within. But 
he could hear ; and which sense, by itself alone, un- 
aided by any other, is able to contribute the most 
in the way of terror ? 

Penetrating the air as does the mist, as he stood 
midway on the ladder, came to him a Jioarse 
whisper, like the wind rushing through a crevice. 
It breathed but one word : Hush-sh-sh,” with 

a long-drawn-out and hissing intonation. Gatlin 
stopped, transflxed, with one foot just dropped 
from the rung of the ladder to descend. 

It was no freak of his imagination, for there was 
not a breath of air stirring, and the word seemed 
all about hjm, rather than emanating from one 
spot. He listened intently, his hhart beating with 
throbs like strokes of a hammer. It came again 
with a long-drawn breath or deep sigh, sounding 
almost at his elbow : Stop ! Stop it ! It may be 


88 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


too late/’ repeating* the .last two words with a 
lengthened cadence to the ^Hoo/’ like the hoot of 
•an owl, the whole dying away in a wail that seemed 
vanishing in the far-off woods. 

■ Gatlin’s blood fairly froze in his veins, his 
cheeks blanched and his muscles weakened. With 
a groan, he lost his hand and foothold and slid 
down from the ladder to the floor in an unconscious 
heap. 

In an hour’s time, and he not returning, his wife 
aroused two of his workmen and sent them out to 
see what the matter was. They found him sitting 
at the foot of the ladder in a more or less dazed 
condition. To their inquiries '^d the inquiries of 
all for many a day as to what was the matter, his 
only reply was : ‘^Nothing. Nothing. The merest 
accident in the world.” 

When Captain Nathaniel Allchin heard of the 
incident, and it was not long in being made known 
to every one in the settlements, he had no words 
to utter, which was an unusual thing for him, but 
his action was rather significant if far from the 
truth. He pointed over his shoulder with his 
thumb at Caleb Ordway’s barroom and shrugged 
his shoulders. 

Perhaps he had some reason for his suggestive 
gestures, for, almost unconsciously to himself, Gat- 
lin’s visits to the spot indicated by Captain All- 
chin, having a beginning in his genial and con- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


89 


vivial disposition, had of the late months greatly 
increased in number and frequency. What he got 
there was like a universal wrench working equally 
well in all directions. It revived his drooping 
spirits and increased the activity of his brain ; or 
calmed him when he was excited, and quieted his 
nerves when he was perturbed ; it warmed him 
when he was cold, cooled him when he was hot, 
moistened him when he was dry and dried him 
when he was wet. It was a wonderful friend on 
short acquaintance, or one seldom met with. It 
was full of treachery and lying deceit after it had 
been made an intimate of. The flushed cheeks, 
supernaturally sparkling eyes, thickened utter- 
ance and sometimes unsteady legs of Gatlin were 
accompaniments that he carried home with him 
from Caleb Ordway’s barroom? 

The first time, hardly perceptible to any but 
those who knew him intimately, was a shock to 
Alice Caflin that might almost have been, and in 
some respects better so, a physical blow. The 
second time it was hardly less bearable, but the 
twentieth or fortieth time it had become a mere 
matter of course, a cross to be borne. 

But it •was not lifted to the shoulders patiently 
or without an effort to cast it away. Gently and 
tearfullj^ at first were the efforts made, with some 
slight effect for a brief time, until such persuasion 
was seen to have failed. Petulantlj’' and complain- 


90 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


ingly then, with an effect looking* in the wrong 
direction, ' and finally angrily and threateningly. 

The Kev. Howard Cantine tried to exercise his 
priestly infiuence to persuade Gatlin to alter his 
course, mildly and gently expostulating and rea- 
soning with him. 

^^Did Alice ask you to speak to me? ’’ Gatlin 
inquired, after listening silently to what the clergy- 
man had to present. 

She did,’’ was the reply. 

“ Tell her you have done as she wished,” said 
Gatlin, and turned away. 

And so on the fourth pay daj^, Gatlin had other, 
heavier matters weighing upon his heart than the 
mere money owing to the workmen, although that 
pressed the harder for the moment. He couldn’t 
still their impatience any more than he could dis- 
pute their demands. What should he do? what 
should he do ? 

One thought at length entered his mind. It 
was a last and not much relished resource, but he 
would tr}’- it. Bidding the men wait for only a few 
moments, he hastily left the shop. His movement 
was so sudden and quick that his intention was not 
known until he had gone from them. The thought 
instantly in the mind of all of them was fully ex- 
pressed by one who had always been their leader. 

Look out, boys,” he cried. One has skipped 
away, leaving us in the lurch; let us take care 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 91 

that two don’t play the same trick. One of you 
follow him and keep your eyes on him. Don’t let 
him g’et out of your sight for a minute.” 

A mason, with a keen e^^e, made the first move, 
and following quickly from the shop, caught sight 
of Gatlin going rapidly up the street. He quick- 
ened his pace and almost came up with him. It 
was not far that he had to follow, for Gatlin stopped 
in front of Karkle’s house, the steps to the front 
door of which began right on the narrow footpath 
that answered for a sidewalk. He knocked and 
the door was presen tl}^ opened by Karkle himself, 
in his shirt-sleeves and his hair very much rum- 
pled up. 

I don’t know what to do,” said Gatlin, before 
he had hardly crossed the threshold. The work- 
man watching stepped closer to the house. He 
could stand in the footpath and see in at the win- 
dow, and there he stood until Gatlin again emerged. 

What is it ? ” asked Karkle, as he closed the 

door. 

Gatlin explained the situation arising from the 
continued absence of Golonel Atwater, although 
Karkle knew it all, as did every one of the inhabit- 
ants of the settlements, concluding with the ex- 
pression he had used# at first: I don’t know 

what to do.” 

Karkle brushed imaginary specks from his 
clothes, pulled up his shirt-sleeves and then pulled 


92 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


them down, reached over and scratched his ankle, 
clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back 
and stretched his arms at full leng-th and half 
yawned — was never at rest for a moment, his in- 
cessant movement not having* the tendency to quiet 
Gatlin’s anxiety or allay his nervousness. 

judge,” said Karkle, ^^that all that is 
wanted is money to pay the men.” 

That’s it,” replied Gatlin. 

And you haven’t got any,” continued Karkle. 

That’s it again,” replied Gatlin. 

Any way to raise any ? ” pursued Karkle. 

Gatlin shook his head. 

Atwater’s sure to be back again before the 
winter. He’d pay well, no doubt, for all that was 
used in his absence,” Karkle said, rather musingly 
to himself. He’s too much tied to the place to 
give it up at this stage.” Then moving his hand 
up and down, as though beating time, he thought 
a moment. Do you want me to help you ? ” he 
asked, presently. 

'' If you can,” said Gatlin. 

Karkle thought ar moment more. 

Let it go another week,” he said at length, 
^af Atwater don’t turnup by that time. I’ll see 
that 3mu are helped out. Do you own the house 
where you live ? ” he asked, suddenly changing the 
subject. 

Gatlin nodded his head. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


93 


Clear ? ’’ 

Clear,” repeated Catlin. 

"" What is due the men ? ” Karkle asked. 

Catlin named a sum to the amount of several 
hundred dollars. 

So much ? ” asked Karkle. 

Catlin answered by saying it might be a little 
more or less, but that the total was increased by 
some accumulations during the summer. 

Karkle looked up toward the ceiling as though 
going through a calculation or weighing some pos- 
sibility. 

If Atwater isn’t here next week and you will 
give me a short note for the amount, I will see that 
you have the money,” he at length said, coming 
down from the ceiling, adding: ^"And when At- 
water does come, we’ll make him pay for it.” 

The entire confidence that had grown up in 
Catlin’s mind in his two or three years of almost 
close intimacy with Colonel Atwater would not 
permit him to hesitate for a moment over such an 
offer, or to stop for any mature consideration of a 
plan presented to him that would lift him out of 
his troubles. He accepted at once. 

But when he was returning to his shop the 
thought came. Why should he assume responsibili- 
ties that were in reality no concern of his ? What 
if the colonel should never return ? The men would 
certainly suffer, but so of course would he. 


94 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


But the colonel would return. The colonel 
must return. 

And back of it all was 'Hhe house’’ itself, 
drawing him toward it with a power that he could 
not resist, holding tightly every string to his heart. 
It was his life — more than his life. He must not 
slight that or turn his back on it. It must have 
complete birth, an entirety, a fullness of existence 
as his brain had conceived it. A maimed, disfigured, 
uncompleted thing, it would drag him down in dis- 
appointment and misery, and mayhap even to his 
death ! 

The men, however, suspicious of Gatlin, would 
hear to no extension of time on his mere word. 
Karkle himself was obliged to come forward and 
say to them as he had said to Gatlin, that even if 
Golonel Atwater did not return during the coming 
week, he would indorse Gatlin in his assurance 
that on the following Saturday they should all be 
paid in full. 

The men were employed in the time named, in 
closing up the work for the winter season, near at 
hand, covering the half-finished walls with boards, 
making a temporary roof and almost building a 
wooden shell around the whole structure. 

Golonel Atwater did not come, but the men all 
received their pay in full and Karkle locked up in 

his safe a bit of paper bearing Gameron Gatlin’s 
signature. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


95 


CHAPTER XL 

GATLIN’S SHORT NOTE.” 

The snow flew thick, fast and furious, and the 
cold blasts from the north vA^est s^vept down from 
the hills and over the Great Plains, shutting* in the 
valley in its utter seclusion as much as though it 
had been locked in a gigantic box and swung hy it- 
self in the heavens, with nothing to hold it but 
gravitation. The possibility of the return of 
Colonel Atwater was entirely disposed of for the 
present. Xeither he nor Sbuy one else could have 
penetrated from the outer world to this retired 
spot except through severe hardship and many 
dangers. 

Catlin’s short note” seemed to him to have 
, very long legs and to have pulled on the mystical 
seven league boots,” for it matured with the 
rapidity of a melon under the hot rays of an Au- 
gust sun. He khew, as well as Karkle, that it had 
been issued on an expectation that was something 
much more to them than a mere probability — in 
fact, what they esteemed a certainty. 

At first, it seemed to be a mere pleasantry be- 
tween the two men. It av>s many days after the 
paper became due that Karkle, meeting Catlin, 
rather good - naturedly than otherwise asked : 
When you going to pay that note ? ” 


96 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Gatlin’s sensitiveness to his liability and respon- 
sibility was touched by the g*ood -humored tone, and 
he replied: ‘‘You know. When Colonel Atwater 
returns.” It seemed a sufficient answer, and no 
more was said until many days more, when, meet- 
ing- ag-ain, Karkle said, not quite so good-naturedly 
this time : “Let us fix up that note in some wa^^, 
Gatlin.” 

“ Why ? ” asked Gatlin. 

“Why, as a mere formal matter,” replied Kar- 
kle. “ The Asbestos requires some security for its 
investments. If ’twas mine, or I had it, it wouldn’t 
matter. But it’s some one else’s.” 

But nothing was done, and tl]^ matter remained 
as it was. 

The winter passed and the brown earth once 
more lifted itself from its white and frozen blan- 
kets, moist and steaming, read\^ for its change of 
apparel to the spring and summer restful and vary- 
ing green shades. The day came to remove from the 
work the protecting shields, but there was no 
preparation looking to that end. 

Gatlin walked sadly up to the spot, and the 
whole surroundings wore to him a ruined, dis- 
tressed look, typical of his condition and feelings. 
It seemed to him that his life also was ruined and 
blasted, reaching an end before it was hardly be- 
gun, like a broken column in a graveyard, topped 
with only a ragged fracture. 

The situation was thoroughly discussed by the 
barroom philosophers at Caleb Ord way’s. Like a 
motion to adjourn in good parliamentary usage, 
the subject was always in order there. Captain 
Nathaniel Allchin appeared to enjoy what he in- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


97 


sisted upon was the termination of the whole en- 
terprise. He did not plume himself on his prophet- 
ic foresight, or claim to be one of those I-told- 
you-so fellows ’’ ; hufsaid it was no more than he 
had expected. 

A great, big, puffed-up individual coming into 
this quiet spot with a splurge like an empty barrel 
dropping ' into a mud -puddle!” he exclaimed. 

We have to work hard here for a living, seeing 
our accumulations increase as if by crumbs and 
specks. Only in that way will the valley increase, 
multiply and grow prosperous. We are none of 
us lords and barons with a store from which we 
can draw whether we put in anything or not to 
replenish it. But you’ll find it always so, the 
noisiest hen lays the littlest "fegg, as I have heard 
my grandfather say ! ” 

The spring passed, the summer came and noth- 
ing was heard from or of Colonel Atwater, Karkle 
made one journey to Buryilk, but no one there 
knew anything of the missing man. On his return 
he met Catlin on the street and asked him to his 
office. 

When there, he opened the business at once. 

We’ve got to do something about that note,” 
he said. The Asbestos is beginning to growl and 
insists upon having it secured. They look to me — 
I ha^e nothing — I look to you.” 

And I look to Colonel Atwater,” said Catlin. 

^Wery well,” said Karkle. ‘‘Then it is all a 
mere matter of form to satisfy the Asbestos. No 
doubt Colonel Atwater will return some time or 
other. A man isn’t wiped out like this without 
leaving some indications somewhere of having once 


98 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


been alive. You can secure the Asbestos and still 
look to Colonel Atwater to protect you.” 

How ? ” asked Catlin. 

‘^Give the Asbestos a mortg-ag-e on your house 
and lot.” 

Catlin started slightly at this, it coming over 
him with renewed strength how deeply he was 
involved. 

You run no risk,” continued Karkle; ‘^for it 
must be that Colonel Atwater will return some 
day or other.” 

Catlin was very thoughtful. 

I don’t wish to make you unnecessary trouble 
or expense,” Karkle went on. But the Asbestos 
is imperative in its requirements to be secured in 
its outlay. They say the matter has been delayed 
much too long already.” 

Catlin was still thoughtful. 

don’t want to put the note in judgment,” 
pursued Karkle, wi^ its long train of costs and 
expenses — you haven’t the shadow of a defense — 
when the matter can be arranged with entire satis- 
faction to the Asbestos so quickly and inexpen- 
sively. I will draw all of the papers and attend to 
everything, and it shan’t cost you one penny.” 

The only reply that Catlin made as he left the 
office was I’ll see,” to which Karkle returned: 
‘'Be as quick about it, then, as you can, for the 
Asbestos is pressing me.” 

The clouds and shadows that had arisen be- 
tween Alice Catlin and her husband, from various 
causes, made it harder for him to explain to her his 
needs and what was required of him. She was shy 
of the matter from the start, and, understanding 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


99 


that the contemplated project could not he accom- 
plished without her willing* signature, utterly re- 
fused to give it. When further informed that the 
situation had arisen from complications connected 
witl^'Hhe house,” her refusal was still more em- 
phatic and decided. 

'' That miserable job has already got between 
us, Cameron, to our unhappiness and undoing. You 
are a completely changed man since you knew 
Colonel Atwater and his projects. Something tells 
me that he will never come back.” 

^^Bosh!” cried Catlin, impatiently^ “ That’s 
the woman of it. He must come back. He 
must” 

For several days the controversy was kept up 
between them, each time with increased bitterness. 
“Tell her,” said Karkle, “that a judgment will 
take away the house, whether she is willing or 
not.” 

It was the final effort made by Catlin in the 
direction desired. He was hardly himself when it 
began and was certainly not the Cameron Catlin 
of but a few years ba&. The dispute became a 
stormy quarrel and the subject matter of it was 
forgotten in mutual recriminations and complaints. 

“ A wife’s a nuisance,” cried Catlin. “ I wish I 
had never married. You’re the curse of my exist- 
ence.” 

“Don’t I wish it, too,” returned Alice, “ with 
such a thing for a husband, bringing disgrace on 
me and his own children ! ” 

Bitterer things than this had been said, but a 
climax had been reached in the dispute that was 
maddening to Catlin, depriving him of every sense, 


100 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


except a desire to hurt something*. He raised his 
partially clenched hand and struck ! It was a 
wild maniacal rush, hut the blow, whether intended 
or not, fell across the brow of his wife ! He saw 
her stagger slightly and catch at the table to 
steady herself, and what a look came into her eyes ! 
His flushed face paled, and for an instant his heart 
stopped beating. He stood as one paralyzed, and 
in an instant more would have been on his knees 
at her feet. But as he raised his hand, the door 
was opened and the Rev. Howard Cantine stood in 
the room and saw the blow itself ! 

Gatlin heard the muttered exclamation of the 
clergyman: Wretch!” and his better impulses 

vanished in the presence of a third person. 

Go to your minister,” he cried, and let him 
comfort you ! ” and dashed out of the room. 


CHAPTER XII. 

COLONEL ATWATER HEARD OF. 

Jephthah Karkle was very much engaged in 
his office in drawing up some papers full of ver- 
bose repetitions and apparently useless and blind 
phrases, in which appeared expressions referring 
to Cameron Catlin and to an organization duly 
incorporated and doing business in New York State 
under the name and style of the Asbestos Fire In- 
surance Company.” A stout, sharp rap sounded 
on the outer door, and an impatient frown gath- 
ered on Karkle’s brow as he testily cried : Come 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


101 


in.” He didn’t look up, continuing* scratching with 
his quill pen on the blue paper before him, and as 
he turned a sheet, sprinkling it with black sand 
from a small tin box. Some minutes elapsed, and 
so intent was Karkle on his work that he had al- 
most forgotten the presence of another person in 
the room. There was a slight preliminary cough, 
and then Karkle, without looking up, as though 
replying to the cough, said quickly: ^^You see I 
am vefy busy.” 

Yes,” said an unknown voice over his head. 
I see, but I am a stranger hereabouts and I have 
come to you on business connected with Colonel 
Atwater.” 

At the mention of the name, Karkle threw down 
his pen and turned sharply around. He saw stand- 
ing before him a well-dressed, fine-looking man, 
with every appearance of being in circumstances 
perfectly satisfactory to himself. 

Karkle was so much interested that he even for- 
got to ask the visitor to be seated. It made no 
difference, however, for the stranger quietly took a 
chair and sat down. He gave one the impression 
of owning everything in sight. 

We find,” he said, coming at once to business, 
that jOolonel Atwater was possessed of certain 
properties in this valley. There appear the names, ” 
he referred to a slip of paper in his hands, of one 
Isaac Bunn and of another Jephthah Karkle, as 
connected with the several conveyances and grants. 
I have ascertained that Isaac Bunn is dead. You 
are Jephthah Karkle ? ” he said, rather question- 
ingly, and concluded : Where is this property ? ” 
How the restless hands pushed the widespread 


102 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


fingers through the bushy hair, picked at the papers 
on the table and at the specks in the clothing, and 
how the eyes sought the fioor! The stranger might 
readily have supposed that his companion was dis- 
turbed, if not agitated, by his intrusion. 

I had nothing to do with it, except as attor- 
ney,’’ said Karkle, presently, under his breath, 
and as though excusing himself before he had 
been accused. Then recovering himself he asked : 

Where is Colonel Atwater ? ” 

'^That’s what we’d like to know,” said the 
stranger. Karkle looked relieved. 

Who are ? ” he inquired, pertly. 

His numberless creditors,” replied the stran- 
ger. Karkle was again disturbed. 

Creditors ! ” he repeated. I thought he 
was a very rich man.” 

The stranger laughed sneeringly. 

‘^He would have impressed any one in that 
way,” he said. But it was all hollow.” 

How do you mean ? ” 

Trust and confidence,” said the stranger, 
with some magnificence of manner. Trust and 
confidence steady the world. A betrayal of them 
shakes it.” 

Colonel Atwater betray any one’s tru^t ! Is 
that what you mean ? ” 

''It looks that way. Colonel Atwater was* in- 
trusted with the care of a number of estates, some 
of them pretty large and some of them pretty 
small. Where are they ? Where is Colonel At- 
water ? ” He didn’t wait for an answer, but con- 
tinued : " If this property here is valueless, they’ll 
be nowhere.” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


103 


Karkle sat for a moment in deep meditation, 
his hands busy with the buttons of his coat. The 
words of the stranger had been suggestive to him. 

‘‘ I would be at your service,’’ he said, presently, 
and I will help you all I can. But just at this 
moment I am very much engaged in some plead- 
ings that should have been ready weeks ago. As 
usual with most of the men in our profession, for I 
take you to be a lawj^er, I have put off the busi- 
ness until the last minute. Any one you meet can 
tell you where Colonel Atwater’s property is, or in 
the morning, I will go to the spot with you and be 
of any assistance that I can.” 

I suppose there is no need for haste,” said the 
stranger, rising. I don’t find it this after- 

noon, I will come to you in the morning.” And he 
went from the office. 

Karkle sprang up the moment he was alone and 
watched the stranger ay he walked slowly toward 
Caleb Ordway’s tavern. Once within it, Jephthah 
grasped his hat and went quickly out of the door. 
He walked rapidly up the street and was almost 
on a run when he arrived at Catlin’s house. Cat- 
lin was at home, and in a few moments more both 
men were in Karkle’s office. 

The first words uttered by Karkle discomposed 
and upset Catlin. They were : I’ve given up all 
hopes or expectations of Atwater’s ever coming 
back ! ” As he spoke he saw the bewildered air 
and blank look on Catlin’s face. • 

You needn’t look as though you had been 
struck dead,” Karkle added. ^^For it makes a 
way out of it all for you, for me and for the 
Asbestos.” 


104 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

Gatlin cheered up a bit, but was not entirely re- 
assured. 

We can proceed, at any rate, as though we 
thought Atwater would never come back again,” 
prusued Karkle. Only what we do we must do 
quickly and immediately. We want to be first in, 
that’s all.” 

Gatlin didn’t understand at all what was meant, 
and said nothing. 

You have a claim, an honest claim, on Golonel 
Atwater’s property for labor, materials and money 
advanced. Seize the property and get the first 
grip on it. Let those who come after get what is 
left.” 

What good would that do me ? ” asked Gat- 
lin. 

Make you ! ” exclaimed Karkle. Don’t you 
see ? Wiio’d defend the action against your claim? 
Ko one. Buy in the property as it is at almost 
your own price. Who’d bid against you ? Ko 
one. Don’t you see ? ” 

Buy in the property?” sighed Gatlin. 
haven’t enough money to pay for one of the layers 
in the stone wall.” 

‘"I’ll fix all that,” said Karkle. “The Asbes- 
tos is not behind me for nothing ! Mortgage it to 
the Asbestos ! ” He seemed very much excited 
over the thought in his mind, for his hands were 
flying around in an agitated and eager manner. 
“ Mortgage it to the Asbestos, and look here ! 
Get enough to finish ‘ the house ’ as you, and only 
you, can flnish it.” 

Those last words touched a chord in Gatlin’s 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


105 


heart that vibrated as though it had been swept 
by a hurricane. 

And then ? ” he fairly gasped. 

Realize on it all,” said Karkle. This valley 
will not be ver^^ long in attracting the attention of 
the world, as I might say. Colonel Atwater made 
no mistake in selecting a site for his home that can- 
not be matched for beauty anywhere, I don’t care 
where the place is. Finish it as you had planned, 
and you’ll have sale for it, rest assured.” 

What am I to ^do ? ” fairly pleaded Gatlin, 
helpless in the excitement of Karkle and his own 
desires. 

Leave it to me,” said Karkle. ‘‘ Do as I say, 
and 3^ou’ll come out on the apex ! ” 

But that note ? ” said Gatlin. 

Oh ! yes,” Karkle replied, seizing some 
papers on the table as he spoke and tearing them 
into strips. Don’t mind that now. We’ll im 
elude that in the claim. It will help make a 
foundation.” 

There was a bright light in Karkle ’s office until 
almost the next morning, and Gatlin was there 
with him. About midnight they roused Justice of 
the Peace Krause from his early sleep, who came 
down grumbling and swearing. He had mumbled 
something while Gatlin, with hat off and right 
band raised, listened, and at the conclusion of the 
incantation he had said: do.” Then the 

justice signed and impressed a seal on some 
papers that already bore the signature of Gatlin. 

Early in the morning, hardl3" before the day 
had become firmly established, Karkle mounted his 
horse at the door of his office. He said to the 


106 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


elderly woman who kept his house in order : If a 
strange gentleman comes here to see me this morn- 
ing, tell him it was imperative on me to file some 
papers at the county clerk’s office that I had al“ 
most forgotten must he filed next day after to- 
morrow. Tell him also,” turning back, for his 
horse had started, ^Hhat ITl not be home again for 
ten days, or more likely, two weeks.” Then he 
trotted briskly off up toward the lake. 

But the strange gentleman did not call again. 


CHAPTBB XIII. 

THE WORK FINISHED. 

The wise commentators of Ord way’s barroom, 
when again the Apyil sun shone in the valley, were 
provided with additional subjects for their consid- 
eration, for, although Colonel Atwater did not ap- 
pear, the coverings of the winter were removed 
from ‘Hhe house ” and the work was prosecuted 
with more vigor than every more men were em- 
ployed and they seemed to be pushed on by Gatlin 
with a nervous energy that he had not heretofore 
shown. As would seem to be often the case, a man 
spends more freely and for more extravagant pur- 
poses money that he has borrowed, so Gatlin hur- 
ried up the time when the money ct^ained from the 
Asbestos would be exhausted by adding to the 
decorative features of the house,” while not limit- 
ing or decreasing the useful ones. 

For the scheme proposed by Karkle had been 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


107 


entirely successful. The property which Colonel 
Atwater had heg-un to improve stood in the name 
of Cameron Catlin, subject to a pretty large lien 
of the Asbestos. 

Catlin had determined that the premises should 
not again be shut up for the winter ; that the 
house ” should at least be so far completed that 
the finishing of it could be done as well during the 
cold as the warm weather. It was for this reason 
that he considerably increased the force of work- 
men and did not decrease the expense thereby. 

His determination was successful and his hopes 
had full fruition. It was hardly midsummer when 
'‘he had the satisfaction of seeing the exterior of the 
work completed and he could contemplate it as so 
far done. Its completion was not all of the satis- 
faction returned to him. Its appearance was his 
delight, and he was not deceived in it. It was cer- 
tainly as beautiful and graceful as an ancient Gre- 
cian temple. The fronts facing' north and south 
were' wide porticoes with six large heavy wooden 
fluted Corinthian columns, reaching from porch to 
cornice, and the eastern and western faces were bro- 
ken with wings. There was a regular irregularity 
of the ground plan, that made possible a sky line 
in the roof that was harmonious even in its points, 
curves and straight lines. It was a large mansion, 
compared with those in its immediate neighbor- 
hood, but nol^ large contrasted with many then in 
existence or now well known. But exposed as it 
was, by its position, from all points, it had this pe- 
culiarity" : Ho matter from what direction viewed, 
it presented a beautiful contour, and, seen from 
anywhere near at hand or miles away in the valley, 


108 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


it attracted the eye and captivated the senses from 
its graceful proportions and its harmony with its 
surroundings. On the other hand, it had no out- 
look from window, roof, door or porch that was not 
delightful. The pleasure it gave in being observed 
was returned to one by the pleasure in looking from 
it. It seemed fashioned, in itself and its surround- 
ings, to be the abode of beauty, peace and all 
delights. 

Poor little Aunty Skerrett, with ever the thought 
in her mind for the church, had been for many 
months revolving a notion, which was a prett}^ big 
one even for more important persons than herself.^ 
With the constant accretions to the population of 
^ the Pointy and the ’vvinning’ eloq^ueiaco and pastoral 
labors of the Bev. Howard Cantine, she had, With 
much more than complacency, observed the in- 
crease in attendance upon the services and a grow- 
ing interest in the church. Why couldn’t they 
have a church of their own and why could not the 
house ” be eventually made into one ? It was a spot 
unequaled in the vallej^, and would make them as 
conspicuous all over the country in position and in- 
fluence as was the situation of the building itself. 
In all of her movements in this, as well as other 
directions for the good of the church, she had been 
seconded and sometimes led by one who, although 
only a recent settler in the valley, had nevertheless 
acquired worthily the name of good old Erasmus 
Force.” 

Mr. Force had come from the far South, having 
become acquainted with the valley in connection 
with several business transactions and trade with 
the locality which had been very profitable to him. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


109 


He had come up to view the land that produced so 
profusely, and, pleased with it, had established a 
store and storehouse on the bank of the river, that, 
as he observed, he might handle both ends of a 
profitable trade. He was an elderly gentleman, 
having with him in his business his son and grand- 
son, both bearing the same name as his own, Eras- 
mus. Al^ were tall, strong men, and their mental 
characteristics were in harmony with their ph3^s- 
ical proportions. 

Good^ old Erasmus Force had long been a 
widower ; the grandson was unmarried, and 
the homes of all had been with the son, whose 
family, besides the son, consisted of his wife and 
two daughters, Amy and Sarah. 

Aunty Skerrett had others to encourage her in 
the notion. She had had correspondence with a 
great corporation in the East that gave tne lie to 
the old saying that corporations have no souls,’’ 
its actions in the use of its great income being in 
harmony with impulses of the most generous 
nature. ‘ 

It was an easy matter, then, looking toward 
the ultimate end to be reached, to arrange that on 
the completion of '' the house ” it should, be occu- 
pied by the Rev. Howard Cantine and his family. 
It might be only temporarily, at best ; but even 
so, it suited him, and the financial efforts of the 
church demonstrated their ability, alone, to pay 
the moderate rent required and desired by Gatlin. 
If the ultimate object failed, it would, at least, in- 
sure for the place an occupancy and care. 

It was a happy day for Aunty Skerrett and a 
proud one for the Rev. Howard Cantine when he 


110 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


moved his modest belonging’s from Gatlin’s house 
to his new home. It seemed to all the beginning 
of an end that would bring great usefulness and 
reward to the whole valley. To be sure, the scanty 
furnishings of the large, high-ceilinged rooms made 
the whole look bare, and some of the rooms were 
empt3^; but the clergyman’s many books and the 
draperies with which he was well supplied, with 
pieces of furniture given here and there by his 
parishoners, gave promise of what the future 
would eventually bring to him and to the place. 

Was it that nothing could be perfect, however? 
Must every beautiful woman or every charming 
landscape have some defect that, while not marring 
entirely the general' effect, prevents perfection ? 

The lights were hardly all extinguished on the 
first night of the entire removal oi the family into 
‘Hhe hohse,” when the whole upper floor seemed 
to be disTiUrbed by the movement of a multitude. 

Doors banged and the stairs seemed to creak as 
though there was a procession going up and down, 
each individual in it opening and shutting the 
doors. Footsteps were heard plainly tramping, 
some with the heavy tread of booted heels and 
others like the soft pressure of slippered or mocca- 
.sined feet. 

The Rev. Howard Can tine rose hastily, lit a 
candle, and, with a courage that had for a founda- 
tion the teachings of his profession, made thorough 
search over the whole house, from the cellar to the 
attic. The latter was not yet floored, and he stood 
for a moment on the upper step of the stairway 
looking in turn in ever3^ direction as far as the 
light of the candle would carry his sight. He dis- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Ill 


covered nothing unusual anywhere, and went back 
to his bed. 

Each night for a month was he thus disturbed 
and thus made search, and each night with similar 
result. 

He disliked to make any complaint for many 
reasons ; -but one evening, rather late, the younger 
Erasmus Force being in ^^the house,’’ he asked 
him to remain all night, and the invitation was ac- 
cepted. 

It was as quiet until morning all through the 
premises as in the depth of a desert ! 

The Rev. Howard Cantine had no explanation 
to offer to .himself and would have scouted at a 
solution offered by Captain Allchin years afterward 
expressed in the words : 

Well ! What could you expect of a ^ilace ' 
built over an Indian graveyard ? ” 

Perhaps these visitations- appealed somewhat to 
the conscience of the Rev. Howard Cantine. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

VTHAT GATLIN SAW IN THE SHADOW OF '‘THE 
HOUSE.” 

There was hardly a day, certainly" not a week, 
that Cameron Catlin did not visit the place. There 
was yet, and constantly, much to do to finish it. 
He meant to have the walks and roads graded and 
the level lawn seeded. He meant to have trees 
planted here and there and the whole properly 


112 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


fenced. Suggestions multiplied on him even after 
everj^thing seemed to be done that could be done. 
He couldn’t let the place alone and it wouldn’t let 
him alone. He even went up in the evening and 
especially liked to look from all sides at the struct- 
ure when the moon was shining full. Everything 
was softened and idealized then, and appealed the 
stronger to his sense of beauty and to his pride as 
the builder. 

Thus standing, at one time, in the deep shadow 
of the moonlight, he saw the outer door of the 
study in the western wing softly open and a woman 
come therefrom. The bright light shone full upon 
her closely shawled and bonneted figure as she 
stood for a moment on the threshold. The Rev. 
Howard Cantine’s tall, slender form was at her 
side. Catlin could hardly make out in the darkness 
what*the action was, but the clergyman certainly 
stooped over, and for a second his head was close 
to that of the woman. 

A cold, freezing sensation seized Catlin by the 
heart. He looked, and as he looked he pressed his 
hands to his head to be sure. 

The door closed, and the closely shawled figure 
sped rapidly across the plateau, down its incline 
and so toward the Point. He followed, keeping 
her clearly in view. Along the road, which had 
been well graded and made into a very passable 
street within the years, now in the shadow of the 
trees, then in the open moonlight went the two, he 
constantly gaining. At his own gateway the 
figure stopped and passed up the path toward the 
house. He was so near to it that when she touched 
the latch of the door to enter he laid his hand upon 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


113 


her shoulder. As he did so she turned her face 
toward him for the first time. 

It was that of his wife ! 

His hands were very cold and his face in the 
moonlight looked like that of a dead man. He 
didn’t recognize his own voice, it sounded so thick 
and husky as he asked : 

Where have you been, Alice ? ” 

Her eyes looked upon. the ground, and she made 
no reply. 

‘"From where and from whonf have you come 
to the care of my children ? ” he continued. “I 
saw you part from him.” 

There was no reply. 

“Answer me, Alice,” pursued Catlin. “And 
tell me the truth ! ” 

She had no answer in words, only in actions. 
She opened the door, went within and closed it in 
his face. 

He stood a moment like one petrified, and turn- 
ing, walked toward the road.^ He was on his feet 
all night, going hither and thither, down toward 
the river and the hills in either direction Tike a dis- 
tracted man. As one is said to do when dying 
suddenly and in the final moment, h.e lived over 
and over again his life with Alice even to the mi- 
nutest particulars. At one spot he always stopped 
< " with a shudder and a chill — at the moment when in 
his frenzy he- had struck her and the minister had 
‘ seen the blow. “ I didn’t mean to do it ! I didn’t 
mean to do it ! ” he groaned. He thought more of_ 
what he had been to her, or what he had not been 
to her, than of what she had done. He cursed 
^ himself and pitied her. 


U4 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

And earl}^ in the morning-, worn, pale and hag- 
gard, he stood by the study door of the house ” 
and knocked. He was impatient at the knocking, 
rather wishing to burst ih and take the man un- 
awares. Mr. Cantine himself answered the sum- 
mons. The bloodshot eyes and trembling lips of 
the visitor suggested the thought in his mind : 

You’ve been drinking again,” but he was soon 
undeceived. 

Gatlin pushed the man back into the room and 
followed, closing the door. 

You know why I am here at this time in the 
morning, and why I have paced the roads and the 
fields up and down the whole night,” Gatlin said, 
fiercely. You are to answer to me. Get down 
on your knees ! ” 

Gantine was no craven, was quick-witted and 
saw that his visitor was more than half crazed . 

He calmly folded his arms, looked Gatlin square 
in the eyes and replied : Only to my God ! What 
you have to say or to do I will receive stand- 
ing.” 

Gatlin reached out his hand to seize him, but 
physically more powerful than his opponent, he 
was mentally the weaker, and often in such en- 
counters the strongest mind gets the better of it 
all. His hand dropped at his side. 

'' I will not kill you, although I might,” he said. ^ 
''And you deserve to die.” 

The thought came into Gantine’s mind: '^A 
man -who will strike a woman no other man need J 
ever stand in fear of.” It was on his tongue to 
utter it, but he was wise enough to refrain from 
such an irritation. 




THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 115 

You must come down from your pulpit. You 
must quit the church. You must leave this valley/’ 
said Gatlin, through his teeth. You must do it 
all within the week. And you mustn’t mention my 
name or A1 — her name with it all. Do you hear ? ” 

He spoke Wildly as he concluded, and springing 
forward he caught the slender man by the shoul- 
' ders in his powerful hands. He lifted him from his 
feet, notwithstanding the minister’s struggles, as a 
child would lift a doll, and flung him limp and loose 
into a far corner of the room. Without looking to 
see the effect of his exertion he turned and went 
out of the house. In the whole time he had not re- 
moved his hat from his head. 

Consternation is the only proper word to em- 
ploy in describing the effect produced on the peo- 
ple of the church on the next Sunday morning, only 
three days away, when the Rev. Howard Cantine, 
in a discourse said to have been one of the most elo- 
quent, pathetic and touching that ever fell from 
his lips, announced his intention of leaving them 
^ immediately and of ultimately quitting the minis- 
try entirely. He said he had long contemplated 
the move, and an accident of a recent date had 
confirmed him in his intentions. He didn’t say 
_ what the accident was, but some slight bruises on 
his face, a constrained arid apparently painful use 
of one of his arms and a perceptible limp gave 
many the impression that it was one of a physical 
nature. 

He secured a boat^on the following day, and on 
the day after, with all of his belongings, floated 
down the stream toward Buryilk, and disappeared 
from the valley forever. 


116 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Aunty Skerrett, to the day of her death, never 
knew, happily, the cause of the departure of her 
favorite minister and mourned for the ‘‘ blessed 
man,” as she called him, from the time of his de- 
parture on, wondering- why her church papers 
never contained his name or any allusion to him. 
And when, years afterward, one of her sons showed 
her a printed card that he had g-ot somehow in 
some of his wanderings, a card admitting one per- 
son to view all Jbhe wonders, eccentricities and mar- 
velous acts in Jim Price’s aggregation of talent 
gathered from the four quarters of the globe,” and 
signed Howard Cantine,” she couldn’t be made 
to believe that it was the same Howard Cantine 
under whose preaching and reading she had sat so 
many times, much to her edification and gratifica- 
tion. And yet for all her disbelief, it was precisely 
the same, and he had carried his rather unusual 
proficiency in the use of language into a vocation 
that in its bills and public announcements to this 
day imitates the verbal fiamboyancy and redun- 
dancy that he originated and introduced. 

The church was by no means injured or its work 
interrupted by the incident, but moved on to promi- 
nence and usefulness in steps that were not slow 
nor uncertain. 

The house ” was vacant, and once more Mrs. 
Obed Bunn appealed to her husband to know what 
was the matter with Dand^L He came home late 
the other night,” she said, making the most hor- 
rible sounds and pointing constantly toward the 
north. I hnoto he tried to say something and it 
seemed to me to sound like ^ Vile.’ I said over her 
name to him three or four times and he must have 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 117 

caught onto it, for he nodded and shook himself, 
and kept pointing and shaking his finger toward 
the north. I wonder has he seen her, and if she’s 
coming back to torture me.” 

But was ^Hhe house” vacant? 


CHAPTER XV. 

WHAT CATLIN SAW THAT WAS NOT A SHADOW. 

Gatlin’s lif^ had ceased to be any living worthy 
of the name. His home to him ceased to be a home. 
He had gone to his house the morning after his 
interview with Can tine and had said to Alice : He 
is to leave the Point and will not bother you again.” 
He said no more, but, until he saw the boat with 
all of the minister’s effects and family fioat off 
down the river, he kept Alice so closely under his 
eye that he knew the two unhappy and guilty per- 
sons never again met. He provided for her and 
the children as he had done and as well as he was 
able, but never sat at meals with them and verj^ 
infrequently was in the house during the night. 
Sometimes he took his children with him for walks 
through the valley, looking at them with a mourn- 
ful interest and sitting down, gathering them in 
his arms. 

What makes father sometimes hug us up to 
him and cry ? ” asked one of them once of the 
mother, and adding: Why don’t he come home 
and stay with us as he used to do ? ” 


118 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Hush ! ” replied Alice. Don’t ask such 
questions of any one. Your father is unhappy.” 

Are we happy, mamma ? ” pursued the little 

one. 

But the inquiries were closed with a look. 

Total separations of husband and wife means 
of an appeal to the law were unknown in those 
da^^s, and the peace of whole families, not to say 
communities, was seldom broken by such actions, 
being* kept whole by the suffering, silence and 
misery of one. 

Gatlin’s comfort was in the house.” He gave 
it without ceasing his unremitting attention. He 
was not unconscious that it was tenanted by some- 
thing or somebody. But he could find nothing. 

planned and built this house myself,” he 
said to himself ; I know every nook and cranny 
in it, but here is something or somebody, whatever 
it is, that knows niore about it than I do.” 

He repeatedly searched it from cellar to attic, 
but discovered nothing. He thought he repeatedly 
saw evidences of an occupancy by those that were 
far from being disembodied spirits ; doors opened 
or unlatched that he had made sure he had firmly 
fastened ; marks on the walls that had not been 
there at his last visit; shelves pulled down and 
disarranged ; even doors taken off their hinges and 
window sash removed, as though to leave unmis- 
takable signs that real flesh and blood had been 
there and active.. 

He had abundant proof in his own mind of his 
suspicions and belief but once. And yet, after all, 
the result was no proof, for he established nothing. 
Coming toward the house one evening just as the 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


119 


. sun was setting*, he was admiring, as he always 
did, the graceful contour of the structure. The 
broken sky line of the roof was his delight. He 
knew every inch of it. But this time there was an 
addition to it not fashioned by his genius. On the 
peak of the central portion of the roof stood a 
slight figure, and clear and distinct in the light of 
the setting sun as a silhouette the figure of a girl 
in scanty garments, with long, trailing black hair! 
Gatlin stopped, fairly transfixed, and for a moment 
or two watched. The figure stood for a time as 
silent and unmoved as one of the chimneys or pin- 
nacles of the roof. Except for its rude appearance 
it might have been taken for one of the ornaments 
of the house. As he looked, it slowly moved 
around, facing in every direction, and when to- 
ward the west the arms were raised high in the 
air as worshipers are said to do who prostrate 
themselves before their deity. Surprised at first at 
tiie spectacle, now that the mystery was solved for 
him, Gatlin determined to capture its moving cause. 
He crept as quietly as he could in the shadows 
toward ‘Hhe house,” opened noiselessly the front 
door and proceeded jusfj^-as noiselessly up the stair- 
way. As he reached the first landing there came 
a crash that startled and stopped him. It was 
evidently '^from the very top of the house. It 
seemed to him as it echoed through the empty 
rooms just like one sharp peal of thunder bursting 
in the air and rolling around in the heavens. The 
utter silence that followed was none the less ap- 
palling. 

But with the first effect of the sudden crash 
the surprise passed off and he continued on toward 


120 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


the top of the house. He reached the attic^ and 
in the dim light there, carefull^^ picked his way over 
the unfioored rafters and stood under the sliding- 
door that opened out upon the roof. It was the 
only egress thereto. It was closed and firmly 
hooked. 

‘^Aha!'"' thought Catlin, now I’ve got her 
sure.” 

With some little effort he lifted the door, and 
mounting the short ladder, stood upon the roof. 
There were plenty of shadows that a vivid 

imagination could easily have made out to he liv- 
ing beings, and where he stood he could survey 
pretty much the whoie irregular surface. But he i 
was not satisfied with that. He pushed the sliding i 
door back in its place, and as well as he was able -|j 
went over — at least, with his eye — the whole ex- ' 
panse of the roof, trying to keep, as he did so, the ’ 
door within view. There was no spot in it all that 
he did not take in in his search, but he found noth- 
ing ; he saw nothing that was not made or did not 
belong to the place. 

Can she have jumped down ? ” he thought. 
But the height forbade any such solution. Were 
there not projections down which she could clam- 
ber ? ” was another thought. He went over in his 
mind the whole exterior of the building, so inti- I 
mately known to him, but he could remember no 
spot where such an effort would be possible or un- 
attended with the greatest danger and difficulty. 

He carefully retraced his steps to the door, slid it 
back, and returning to the attic, firmly hooked it as 
he had found it, and in the deepening gloom picked 
his way over the rafters back to the stairway. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


121 


Half way down this there came to his ears a 
crackling* laugh that was almost a screech. It 
seemed to come to him from just at his elbow. It 
was such a ‘^Ha-ha-ha-ha!” as might come 
from a triumphant madman, glorying in the fall, 
defeat or death of his keeper or enemy. It sent 
the cold chills even into the marrow of Gatlin’s 
bones ; but he turned and sprang back up the stair- 
way. The gloom in the attic was intense. He 
could see nothing and the silence was complete. 
The sound was not repeated. His feelings were 
worked up to a pitch that Avas almost unbearable. 
He turned and fled down the stairwa}^ and out of 
“the house,” nearly forgetting in his excitement 
and hurry to fasten the door by Avhich he had en- 
tered. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

IS-AAC BUNN. 

Good old Erasmus Force was ready to do 
what he could to forward the ends aimed at by 
Aunty Skerrett, but the departure of Mr. Can tine 
had rather nipped them in the bud and had made 
their immediate fruition impossible, or indeflnitely 
postponed them. He had had an eye on “the 
house ” for himself and his ov/n use ever since he 
had come into the valley, but he had subordinated 
his wishes and the desire of his family to what 
seemed to be the value and usefulness of his church. 
The situation of the property had become known to 


122 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

him through the negotiations that had been had 
under the lead of Aunty Skerrett, and on the de- 
parture of Mr. Cantine he had had some confer- 
ences with Catlin regarding its purchase, the only 
question in his mind being its price, which, with a 
considerable accumulation of interest on the mort- 
gage held by the Asbestos, seemed to him to be 
rather high and more than the state of his finances 
could stand. Knowing that Karkle had had some- 
thing to do with the matter, he had casually men- 
tioned his wishes to him. 

^^Wait,” said Karkle; ‘^the property practi- 
cally belongs to the Asbestos. As Catlin is going 
on now, he is not able to pay the interest, let alone 
ever being able to pay the principal.’’ He didn’t 
add, as he might have done with truth, that the 
Asbestos was about getting ready to foreclose the 
mortgage, and that at a forced sale not enough 
would be realized to satisfy the claim, the judgment 
being one that would more than likely sweep away 
everything that Catlin had. He said nothing about 
this, for he looked somewhat to Mr. Force as a 
more than probable purchaser, and knew he was 
not that kind of a man who could make himself 
comfortable over the distresses of others. 

He wanted Mr. Force to have the property. 
He was a popular, well-known citizen of the valley, 
abundantly able to pay all that he agreed to pay, 
and once in possession, he himself would be freed 
from any connection with an enterprise or under- 
taking that had given him a world of annoyance. 

And Mr. Force waited. 

Thinking complacently of this way out of it all 
for the Asbestos and himself, Karkle one day sat. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


123 


idly for him, in his office. It was summer and his 
outer door stood wide open. Firm, strong- steps 
were heard on the pathway without and the fig-ure 
of a man darkened the doorwa3^ Karkle, looking 
up, recognized at once the face and the form. He 
also recognized the voice as the visitor stepped 
across the threshold and, seating himself, said : 

Jephthah Karkle again.” 

The hands were very restless as his eyes looked 
upon the stranger, hut he said nothing, using not 
even the commonplaces of greeting among those 
long separated. He didn’t like the substantial, 
solid, permanent look of this man, who ^eemed to 
take possession of all things by which he was sur- 
rounded, even human beings. 

I’ve been a long time coming back to ask your 
help,” the stranger went on. Let me see.” He 
turned his head to one side, as though making a 
calculation. Dear me ! if it isn’t almost five 
years ! And what changes in those j^ears ! ” 

Karkle made no reply, looking at him steadily 
as though studjdng him up. 

I didn’t like the looks of the property that 
Colonel Atwater left when I was here before,” the 
stranger went on, adding, with a very slight smile : 
“And it didn’t seem to me to be worth while to 
throw good money after poor or very uncertain 
money. I have come again and my mind has 
changed. I have looked upon one of the most 
attractive places that my eye ever saw. It ought 
to be worth a goodly sum. I have come to you to 
help us get something out of it for those whom 
Colonel Atwater ruined. There should be some- 
thing left.” 


124 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Karkle was by no means • composed, but he 
replied to this. 

Left ? ” he repeated, speaking* rapidl3^ The 
property has passed away entireh" from Colonel 
Atwater and is held by others by a title that can- 
not for an instant be successfully questioned.” 

'^Wait a minute,” said the strang*er, holding* up 
a warning finger. We have waited a long time, 
and not for nothing. What we expect is not alto- 
gether in that direction. I want to refresh your 
memory a little. Perhaps b}^ so doing you may 
get a suggestion as to my meaning.” 

Karkle kept his eyes steadily fixed on the vis- 
itor, trying vainly to make him out. 

The stranger leaned forward a little, as though 
to fix the attention of his hearer. 

Isaac Bunn was a soldier in the company 
with Lieutenant Atwater,” he said, ‘Mn the lit- 
tle army that came into this region to scourge 
the Indians for their treachery and atrocities. 
With many others they were attracted by the 
many natural advantages and beauties of this 
valley, and Isaac Bunn came first and squatted 
on a piece of land, thinking to hold it by a claim 
founded on his military services. He built him a 
little cabin on a rise of ground and had with him 
a widowed daughter, widowed in her honeymoon. 
Among other ways that she tried to brighten the 
new home that her father had made in the then 
wild and deserted place, and, in a manner, to 
soothe her own sorrow, was in the training and 
cultivating of a few wild flowers underneath her 
window and beside the door. It was„ a meager, 
sparse, pitiful little bed, its chief contents being 


\ 


THE HOUSE TEHRIBLE. 


125 


dandelions, the roots of which she had herself dug 
in the woods. But Isaac Bunn’s claim to the land 
he had settled upon and begun in a small way to 
improve was so slender that, when a contest for it 
came, it would not hold a minute. Besides, he was 
old and feeble, and could not hold his own as he 
would have done had he been a younger man. He 
had no money to pay, and his opponent, who should 
the rather have been his friend, was powerful be- 
fore the legislature and the courts and employed 
an attorney who was shrewd and hesitated at noth- 
ing if he could only win. Isaac Bunn’s services as 
a soldier were forgotten, his age was not oonsid- 
ered at all, and he was forced to give up what he 
thought was his and where he had expected to end 
his days. He was almost the only settler as yet in 
the whole region, and he took what was offered him 
— a refuge in the cabin of an Indian not far from 
the spot that he had selected as his home. He had 
sent for his brothers to come to this land of 
promise, thinking that perhaps with their help he 
could yet succeed ; but for a long time no response 
was made. Communication was difficult, and the 
way hither long, tiresome and dangerous. The 
daughter longed for her small bed of flowers. She 
thought she could at least bring that away, even 
if, with the roots, she carried some of the soil. She 
started, one afternoon, with such intention in her 
mind, and being gone longer than she should, her 
father went through the forest after her. Midway 
between the two places he found her lying at the 
foot of a great tree. In her hand she had a great 
bunch of dandelions. He bore her as he could to 
the Indian’s hut. In the morning there were two 


126 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


forms on the rude hut soft fur couch where they 
had laid her. One of them was lifeless — hers — with 
the flowers still in her hand ; the other hardly less 
alive, for whose existence she had given her own. 
Isaac Bunn wasted away during the winter follow- 
ing, and in the spring died. But not before he had 
seen the face and pressed the hands of a younger 
brother who had at length answered the summons 
to come to him. It was almost at the last mo- 
ment, and the old man was too much exhausted to 
reveal to his brother the cause of his situation. He 
could only manifest to him his satisfaction at see- 
ing him and make somewhat clear that he had been 
wronged in some way and was disappointed and 
broken-hearted . ’ ’ 

Jephthah Karkle listened to this recital with un- 
questionable interest, and when the stranger had 
concluded breathed long and sighed, but looked 
relieved. 

That’s quite a romance,” he said, ^^but more 
or less commonplace in a locality like this. I could 
point you to numberless instances hereabouts where 
it has been determined that military titles wouldn’t 
hold for a second.” 

‘^So?” said the stranger, somewhat incredu- 
lously. Then there is culpable wrong somewhere 
and individual action that comes close to being 
criminal.” 

This somewhat startled Karkle, although, ex- 
cept for the incessant motion of his hands, he did 
not show it. 

But that is not the point that I wish to make, 
nor is it the reason why I have refreshed your 
memory with the short tale.” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


127 


Refreshed my memor}" ! ” exclaimed Karkle. 

You have told me something* as new to me as a 
freshly born babe would be.’’ 

Ah ! ” said the stranger, then I will be more 
explicit. Supposing Obed Bunn should be apprised 
of the fact, which he suspects now, but of which he 
is really ignorant, that Colonel Atwater and Jeph- 
thah Karkle were the men who wronged his brother, 
Isaac Bunn, bringing him to his death with a 
broken heart.” 

Karkle leisurel}^ rose to his feet, thrust his hands 
deep into his pockets, walked to the doorway and 
looked for a moment upon the forest near at hand 
and the green hills far awa3^ Then he turned, and 
with a very quiet and subdued air, replied : 

don’t give one iota for Obed Bunn. 
Whether he knows what you have been telling 
me or not, I do not care. Indeed, I had as lief tell 
him the whole story myself ! ” 

^^Oh!” said the stranger, entirely unmoved, 
and then he added, quickly: What about the 
property of Colonel Atwater that you two stole 
from Isaac Bunn ? ” 

Look here ! ” Karkle exclaimed. I do not 
know who or what you are, but I have no stomach 
to have any one come into my own ofiB.ce and insult 
me ! ” 

The stranger was still unmoved, and very quietly 
looking up at Karkle, asked again : 

‘^And what has become of the large sum of 
money that Colonel Atwater is known to have 
brought into this valley ? ” 

Something seemed to have suddenly soothed 
Karkle’s feelings, for he answered : 


128 


THE HOUSE TERKIBLE. 


‘^The property is practically held, for Gatlin 
wilj never be able to satisfy the mortgage, and by 
the strongest kind of a title, by the Asbestos 
Company/’ 

The Asbestos ? ” asked the stranger. 

Karkle was pleased at the apparent impression 
that the name had produced on the stranger, 
and he repeated it with emphasis : Yes. The 
Asbestos.” 

The stranger this time laughed outright, much 
to Karkle’s dismay. 

There’s no such company,” the stranger said, 
after a moment. It went all to pieces three days 
before I left the city, now more than two weeks 
ago. It is a complete wreck ! ” 

Karkle stood for a moment dumfounded, and 
then sank into his chair. The stranger seemed 
rather to enjoy the discomfiture of his com- 
panion. 

He rose from his seat after a moment and said 
I shall be here several days this time and will be 
able to see you frequently on these matters. You 
may think over what I have been saying to you. 
And I might as well inform you also that I repre- 
sent the creditors of the Asbestos, as well as those 
of Colonel Atwater. It is largely through his mis- 
doings that the company has come to grief.” 




THE HOUSE TERKIBLE. 


129 


CHAPTER XVII. 

GOOD OLD ERASMUS FORCE AND HIS FAMILY. 

Good old Erasmus Force stood on the portico 
of ^^the house/’ facing* the south, and looked 
abroad over the landscape. Although a man of 
g^[•ain, butter, plaster and trade, he was of refined 
instincts and of good taste, and his soul filled with 
delight over the beauty of the view. 

Paradise could not have surpassed this in its 
loveliness,” he murmured to himself. One’s last 
days passed in such a spot, he could have little to 
improve on by a transition to heaven itself, when 
his time came ! ” 

And it was all his, so far as he knew or could 
see, as long as he should live. 

Perhaps at that moment, perhaps never, did he 
reflect upon how it had all come into his posses- 
sion. 

The strange gentleman returned but once more 
to Karkle’s office and then his visit was very brief. 
It was in a day or two after his recent call. 

^^I am not yet ready, Jephthah Karkle,” he 
said, abruptly, when he entered. There is much 
for me to do yet. It is my business to find out 
things and I am finding them out.” 

Karkle looked at him with a stupid sort of a 
stare, hardly making out what he was talking 
about. 

^•'Go ahead, Jephthah Karkle,” the strange 
^ gentleman continued. Go ahead and get out of 


130 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


it all you can for the Asbestos. My turn will come 
afterward. This is my second call here. My third 
visit will be my final one. Look out for it and bear 
in mind what I have told you.’’ 

He quitted the office as abruptly as he had en- 
tered it. 

Karkle couldn’t make it out at all. What did 
he mean by ‘ ^ his turn ’ ’ ? What turn ? And what 
could it all have to do with him ? He took his hat 
and went over to Ordway’s tavern, asking* Caleb 
if he had seen the strange gentleman. Caleb had. 
Did he know who he was or what his name was ? 
Caleb did not, but thought he had heard some one 
call him James or Mr. James. He had heard, too, 
that he was stopping or visiting down the river a 
little ways, if he was not mistaken, at Obed Bunn’s. 
Say what he might have said, this was not pleas- 
ant information for Karkle. He saw Obed Bunn a 
number of times thereafter, and with some curios- 
ity, if not anxiety ; but that person hardly noticed 
him. He had never heretofore been accustomed to 
notice him, only glancing him over, without any 
recognition by eye or with tongue, passing along 
stoop-shouldered, with a shadow over his face. 

The days passed and so the memory of the 
strange man passed gradually from Karkle, as such 
things will pass from one, based on only a knowl- 
edge of a few minutes. The man himself left but 
little, if any, impression, but what he had said and 
what he had told Karkle were matters he could 
not forget. 

And he went ahead. The proceedings neces- 
sary seemed long and dragging to him and to 
Erasmus Force, but they were very rapid to Cat- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


131 


lin. When the ultimate result of it all stared 
him in the face, he went to Force and begged him 
to take the place at his own valuation, provided it 
was enough to satisfy the claim of the Asbestos. 
But Force assured him again that it was too much 
and more than he could afford or would be willing 
to pay. Gatlin could only watch what was going 
oil, as though he had been an. entirely disinterested 
person, utterly helpless to stop the wheels of the 
customary process that Karkle had set going. 
What was the use for him to seek the lawyer and 
make intercession for time ? His only reply would 
have been : The affairs of the Asbestos demand 
it.’’ And where would have been to him anybene- 
fit if further time had been given him? It would 
only have increased a burden which had always 
been heavier than he should have attempted to 
carry. He was a miserable, unhappy, discouraged 
man, and to add to his distress, his two eldest chil- 
dren, attacked with a disease the ravages of 
which through the valley were remembered and 
referred to as a date in the calendar of the locality 
for many years thereafter, were taken away from 
him within seven days of each other. 

He saw the pale face of the mother in her 
anguish grown thin and pinched with watching, 
care and grief, but he looked at her coldly and in 
his own sorrow asked himself: ^^Is this a part of 
her punishment or mine ? ” 

As intimately acquainted with the private and 
home life of every family as is every one in a small 
hamlet, the disagreement grown up between Gatlin 
and his wife was observed, noted and commented 
upon in ways more derogatory to him than to her. 


133 


THE HOUSE. TERRIBLE. 


Women said : He is killing* Alice with his habits 
and conduct."’ Men said: '^His home is an un- 
happy one for him.” Aunty Skerrett, concerned 
for her only daughter, sought vainly from her some 
reason for the evident trouble, but she could never 
get a complaint from her nor any more satisfactory 
reply than: I have made my bed, mother; let 
me lie upon it.” And the stalwart brothers of 
Alice, interested in their only sister’s welfare, 
pounced on Gatlin with considerable ferocity. He 
silenced them forever with the expression : I can 
make no explanation. Ask Alice.” Thus re- 
ferred, to them she said : It is no fault of Cam- 
eron’s.” 

Putting this and that together did no good in 
the gossip, and it was not until years after that 
the truth came forth, inadvertently, from the one 
who had had the most to do with making it the 
truth. 

There was no contest in the proceedings. What 
was the use ? There was no opposition anywhere. 
And in the end, in comparison with the real and 
cost value of the property, the sum realized was 
pitiful. The original claim and the additions of 
interest accumnlated, the absurdly extravagant 
^ ^costs’’ and expenses, made an amount to which 
that obtained on the sale was very small indeed. 
And Gatlin’s house and lot, which Karkle had 
once accurately and, it is to be hoped, unwittingly 
prophesied would go, too, whether Alice was willing 
or not, did not suffice to make it all wholly good 
either. 

Good old Erasmus Force bought it in. Some- 
body must lose by the transaction. It was not he. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


133 


The creditors of the Asbestos didn’t want to. Kar- 
kle said they mustn’t, and it all fell on Gatlin. 

The Force family took possession. Erasmus 
Force, Jr., seconding his father in his estimation 
and admiration of the place, and Erasmus Force 
the second continually finding something new to 
compliment and commend. 

But it was less than a week after they had got 
all settled and Mrs. Erasmus Force, Jr., was able 
to ^^find things when she wanted them,” that there 
were curious happenings that showed them there 
were shadows over every landscape and defects in 
every beaut^L 

Mrs. Erasmus Force, Jr., was the first one to 
notice that, perhaps, all was not sunshine and hap- 
piness for them. She lay beside her husband after 
a hard day’s work at ^Hhe house ” and its settling 
thinking what she should do to-morrow, and how 
she could better the appearance of this room, or 
make the kitchen or some of the numerous clos- 
ets more convenient. Mr. Erasmus Force, Jr., 
if not snoring, was getting along rapidly in 
the direction toward a nasal engagement of 
^hat character. He, too, was tired with his work 
at the store and the storehouse. That delicious 
sense of passing off into a sleep after a well-spent 
day was soothing Mrs. Erasmus Force, Jr., into 
unconsciousness. The room was dark, the windows 
heavil}^ curtained and all things intensely quiet. 

Hush ! 

Mrs. Force was not so far gone that she could 
not hear distinctly the sound of soft footsteps in the 
hall. Certainly they were there. Just as certainly 
the door to her room was softly unlatched, and al- 


134 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


though she could not see, she was sure that some 
one was in the room with them uninvited. Her 
motherly instinct suggested that it might he one 
of her children and she was about to speak to ask 
if such was the case when, looking sharply at the 
side of the bed, she could make out a slender figure 
standing just at her elbow. It was very shadowy 
and indistin -j ^ but what was neither one nor the 
other was a pair of shining eyes that glared down 
upon her witii a frightful expression. She did as 
any other woman would have done under similar 
circumstances — gave a great scream and called 
out: ‘"Erasmus!’' 

The snore had been making such rapid progress 
that the scream and the calling of his name seemed 
only a portion of some dream that was occupying 
his attention. Mrs. Erasmus Force, Jr., heard a 
rush as of the quick movement of a solid body, the 
door from the chamber was violently shut and then 
there was silence, except in her efforts to awaken 
her husband. 

“Erasmus,” she cried, “there’s some one in 
‘ the house.’ ” 

Whether only half awake, or petulant at being 
disturbed, he mumbled : “I know it. What do 
you wake me up to tell me that for ? Of course 
there^s some one in ‘ the house.’ ” And he yawned, 
disposing himself to catch up with the snore that 
had got ahead of him in his unwilling awaking. 

Mrs. Erasmus, Jr., gave him a vigorous poke 
in the back “Wake up!” she exclaimed. 
“There’s some one in ‘the house’ that has no 
business to be here ! ” 

“Oh ! get out ! ” growled Erasmus. “ You’ve 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


135 


been dreaming. Go to sleep, and let me go to 
sleep.” 

‘^But I saw it,” pursued Mrs. Erasmus, Jr. 

saw ej^es that were like those of a devil ! ” 

Well, well, catch him in the morning,” sleep- 
ily said Erasmus. 

^^No. Get up now,” persisted Mrs. Erasmus. 

Strike a light and look about. I shan’t sleep a 
wink this whole night unless some search is made,” 
as she spoke giving Mr. Erasmus several more 
very distinctly felt pokes in the back. 

I)ear me ! ” groaned Erasmus. If you’re 
not enough to make a man wish there was no such 
thing in the world as a woman. Now, then, what 
did you see, where did you see it and where has it 
gone ? ” He was sitting up in the bed as he con- 
cluded his inquiries. 

Right here at my side of the bed,” replied 
Mrs. Erasnius, and it must be confessed that she 
edged a little closer to her husband as she spoke. 

I don’t see anything there,” urged Erasmus. 

. And I don’t hear anything anywhere. I guess 
you were dreaming.” 

Won’t you strike a light and look ?” asked 
Mrs. Force. I’m sure there is something 
wrong.” 

^^What foolishness ! ” muttered Erasmus; but 
he nevertheless thrust his legs from the bed, rose, 
wrapped a blanket around him and felt for the can- 
dle on the table at hand. Mrs. Force also arose 
and wrapped a blanket around her. 

I’m going, too,” she said. 

They made their way in the darkness to the 
kitchen, Mrs. Force holding her husband tightly 


136 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


by the arm, where they uncovered the coals that 
had been very carefully covered over the nig-ht be- 
fore, and with a splinter of fat pine, by means of 
some expenditure of breath, Erasmus lit the can- 
dle. They went into every room in ‘^the house,” 
but found no signs of there being any one anywhere 
who had no business there. 

They went back to their bedroom, Erasmus in- 
sisting that his wife had been dreaming, she as 
certain that she had seen something, and two eyes 
that were the eyes of the devil. 

It was a good many days, if not weeks, before 
Erasmus was at length forced to acknowledge that 
his wife was right. She continually heard things 
thereafter for which she could not account, in the 
daj^time as well as in the night, and insisted upon 
keeping a candle burning in her bedroom all night 
long. She heard voices, too, whispers and sighs, 
telling her not to stay,” to ‘^get hence ” and 
^^be off.” bTo one else of the household seemed to 
have these experiences, and Mr. Erasmus Force, 
Jr., began to look finally at his wife with curious if 
not somewhat anxious eyes. Only his own attention 
became attracted in the same direction. 

It began with the tinkle of a little bell that 
seemed to come from the cellar, then sound from 
the parlors and dining-room, then the chambers, 
and finally the attic and the roof. There were 
heavy steps on the stairs and a rush as of thick 
garments through the halls. 

Mr. Erasmus Force, Jr., was a very hard-headed 
man, and took no stock at all in the supernatural 
origin of any sight, sound or occurrence. And in 
these curious matters he had the utmost belief in a 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


137 


physical cause as producing* them. He was deter- 
mined to ferret it out. His kitchen girl had made 
many complaints of the loss or disappearance of 
considerable quantities of food from the kitchen 
larder. The bread-chest was frequently short one 
or two loaves ; the butter was gone and it certainly 
had not melted away ; pan after pan had been emp- 
tied over night of its milk ; a whole ham had walked 
off or hopped away, perhaps, as cleanly as though 
it had been returned to its original leg, and whole 
platters of fricasseed chicken left over for the next 
day’s dinner had. been eaten by some one else than 
those for whom it had been cooked. 

IV^vouldn’t do for such and more unaccountable 
and uncomfortable proceedings to be known abroad 
or remain unexplafned. The house ” would be 
ruined forever, and its occupation become impossi- 
ble either by the Force family or any one else. 

It is safe to say that there' was not a nook or 
cranny, hole or crevice about the whole premises 
that Mr. Force did not examine with almost micro- 
scopic diligence. The walls were all sounded and 
the chimneys tested in every way. A watch was 
kept for night- after night, until the watchers 
grew weary with their vigils. But let the vigi- 
lance relax for an instant and immediately every- 
thing was in confusion and tumult, worse, if any- 
thing, than before. 

In thd midst of it all, Gatlin was appealed to for 
information as to the exact structure of the build- 
ing. 

With all that it had been to him, with all that 
it had cost him in misery and distress, regarding not 
at all the money, he only too willingly gave all the 


138 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


information he could. It gave him opportunity to 
visit the spot unquestioned; to he near it; to stand in 
its shadow ; to enter its doors and wander at will in 
its every portion. As he came near it, it seemed 
to wrap him in an embrace from which he could 
not escape and from which he did not care to es- 
cape. Sometimes it was to him a great ogre or 
giant that held out its arms to devour or destroy 
litm ; sometimes a gentle lover that soothed, ca- 
ressed and comforted him; sometimes so much a 
part of himself that, as he breathed, it seemed to 
breathe ; as he smiled, it seemed to smile ; as he 
wept, it seemed to weep. To him it was a living, 
active, torturing demon, or a no less living, mov- 
ing, caressing woman. Out of his brain he had con- 
ceived it. It was he. He was it. 

But hy his interposition nothing was gained. 
^‘The house ” began to stand in the eyes of good 
old Erasmus Force and his whole family for some- 
thing very much else than the paradise and beauti- 
ful spot that it looked. 

And it was worse than all that. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

ERASMUS FORCE, JR., GIVES CHASE. 

There had been a thriving and profitable trade ' 
at the store all the winter long, and the store- . 
house on the bank of the river was almost burst- ^ 
ing with the cereal riches and other products of the • 
valley. There was no shadow there or any events . 
that could not be explained. ^ 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


139 


The Force ark, begun not far off up the river 
during the '"January thaw,’’ when its shape was 
laid out, was rapidly approaching completion when 
the winter gave signs of becoming tired and break- 
ing up. The ark was only a great box, without 
cover, about two hundred feet long and twenty feet 
wide, made of pine plank, these being sold at good 
prices at the market where the cargo they trans- 
ported was disposed of. It was all like baking a 
cake in a dish and after it was done you could eat 
the dish as well as the cake and find them both 
palatable. 

The sides were between five and six feet high, 
but, unlike the vessel from which it got its name, 

. it was not "pitched without and within,” but was 
only pitched without and made water-tight on the 
bottom and sides. Fore and aft were rigged im- 
mense paddles, the handles being pine spars of 
fifty or sixty feet in length, and the blades that 
dipped into the water were twenty feet long by six 
feet broad. Each paddle manned by four or six 
stalwart fellows, and acting in unison, guided the 
vessel with a directness, force and rapidity that 
made them all laugh at the apparent dangers of 
the swollen and rapidly fiowing river. 

In the center of the boat was built the cabin 
where the crew slept when off watch and where 
their meals were prepared and eaten. 

No such spectacles are seen these days as were 
■ afforded by the arks of that period, interesting 
I and exhilarating then from their infrequency, being 
; possible only twice a year — in the spring and the 
; fall' freshets. The river itself, swollen from a slow, 
i turgid, shallow stream of the summer or winter to 


140 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


four times its size in width and depth, was no com- 
mon sight as it rolled In a resistless current through 
the valley toward the sea. It possessed another 
interest, too, in being the only means by which the 
people of the locality communicated with the outer 
world and found a market for their produce. It 
was the means of a semi-annual touch with the rest 
of mankind that was thrilling and exciting and can- 
not well be appreciated now when every one every- 
where is in constant and instant communication 
with every one everywhere else. 

The Force ark was built and loaded, held to the 
bank by two stout lines, one at the bow, another at 
the stern. Its chief cargo was made up of nearly 
twenty thousand bushels of wheat, and besides that 
large quantities of other grain — rye, barley, buck- 
wheat and oats. - There were butter and cheese, 
plaster and salt, and good old Erasmus Force 
stood upon the bank regarding with satisfaction 
the prospect of the return that the vessel and its 
contents would bring to him. 

He had been laboring all day with his men. 
There was need of haste, for all the signs were that 
the breaking up of the winter was near at hand. 
For two or three days the sun had been sending 
down rays that melted the snow so rapidly that on 
the hills the brown earth was beginning to show 
itself in broad and ever-enlarging patches. Much 
of the ice had been lifted by the rising waters, and 
there began to be signs of a rain that would turn 
the heavy snows of the winter all the more rapidly 
into water. The river might come up with appal- 
ling suddenness ; such things had been known ; it 
might spring to bank full within the short space of 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


141 


time intervening between sundown and sunrise. 
Extreme watchfulness was needed. The flush and 
freshness of the flood must be taken. The earliest 
to reach the market were the surest of the most 
profit. But Erasmus Force did not fear. For a 
good many years he had been engaged in just such 
operations. He had large interests invplved. The 
ark held the greater part of the possessions that he 
and his family could call their own. Safely landed 
in the market, he and they would be twice as well 
off as they were a six months before. 

He was interested, but he was neither anxious 
nor apprehensive. 

Why should he be ? 

He had a pilot of more than a quarter of a 
century’s experience, who knew the river to tide 
water as though it was a stream in his own door- 
yard, and his crew were all careful, sober, trust- 
worthy men. Besides, was not his son to be there 
when the lines were cast off, and was he not to ac- 
company the ark to its destination ? 

He looked down upon his boat and the treasures 
it carried with complacency and anticipations of 
the result. He was very tired, for since daybreak 
he had been on the ground watching the loading 
and sometimes bearing a hand as it proceeded. As 
he walked toward his home he noticed that the 
heavens were thickly clouded, and before he 
reached it the rain was falling, coming at first in 
thin drops, like an exaggerated mist, and at length 
in great handfuls, as it were. The wind was ris- 
ing. too. 

It was some time before Erasmus Force, Jr., 
followed his father from the store. He came in 


142 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


dripping* wet from the storm and shook himself 
like a dog*. 

^^The river begins to rise, father,” he said. 
‘‘ Wehl be off in the morning, I think.” 

He had left faithful men to watch in their in- 
terests and to give him warning in case of need. 
In warm, dry clothing he sat a few moments after- 
ward taking his meal and anticipating the pleasure 
that his coming journey would bring him, all the 
more pleasant from the probable profits. As he 
sat there, rugged, hearty, hopeful and rosy, broad- 
shouldered and large, he looked fit to cope with any 
force, element or opposition that might be brought 
against him, and the pose of his head with its 
broad, open brow indicated that he lacked neither 
will, courage nor mental activity and shrewdness 
to back up and direct his physical powers. 

He needed them all before he saw another 
morning’s light. 

His first strong sleep had not passed entirely 
when he awoke for no especial reason that seemed 
to have touched him personall3L The candle that 
his wife insisted should be lit every night was sput- 
tering away in its final fitful gleams, and a draught 
of air was blowing across his face toward it from the 
door to the hall, and he knew he had carefully closed 
the door when he had come up to bed . He looked in 
that direction and saw standing in the doorway, 
with the darkness behind it for a background 
throwing it out into stronger relief, a tall, slender 
figure, with flowing black hair enveloping it, and 
glowing e^^es. 

“ Who are you and what do you want ? ” he 
cried. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 143 

./ 

The figure threw its head back, making no re- 
ply except a low gurgling laugh, vanishing then 
into the darkness behind it. Erasmus Force was 
quick and active. He was out of bed and standing 
, in the doorway himself in an instant. He thought 
he saw and heard something descending the stair- 
way. This that he had seen, unusual and peculiar 
as it might have been, was no specter nor appari- 
i tion, but something real, something that if he could 
j get his hands on he felt he could hold and that 
[ would not melt away in his grasp or vanish into 
i air. He followed on behind what he saw and 
^ heard, not slowly and cautiously, but swiftly and 
leagerl^L His pride and strength were awake and 
f active. He was going to solve this mystery now. 
I He sprang down the stairway three steps at a 
time and stood in the broad hall below. There was 
^ not a sound and he could see nothing. But in the 
I darkness, if there was anything moving, he could 
not fail to observe it, by the disturbance and dis-. 
J placement of the gloom, if for no other reason, 
if He stepped carefully toward the door of the front 
^ room and looked in, resting his hand on the casing 
of the doorway. There was certainly a movement 
near one of the front windows. He sprang toward 
it with arms outstretched and grapsed with them 
only the heavy curtains. But, as he did so, some- 
thing moved by its own volition, brushed past and 
^ touched him. He fiung himself around, but quick 
as he was, his arms only encountered the empty 
air. It was like a blind man vainly reaching out 
for shadows and continually finding nothing there. 
His anger was rising at being so constantly and 
easily eluded. He tried to penetrate the gloom 


144 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


with his gaze, but could make out nothing. If he 
onl}^ had a light ! But to get one now would be to 
let, whatever it was, escape, and he was ripe for 
the chase. He went into every room on the floor, 
going into every corner, carefully closing each door 
behind him as he passed along and turning the 
key in the lock. He. stood, at length, at the 
foot of the broad stairway leading to the second 
floor, chagrined, if not provoked, at his fruitless 
endeavors. He raised his ej’-es and at the top of 
the stairway he was sure that he made out a flgure 
standing as though looking down upon him in con- 
tempt. With less than half a dozen jumps, he 
stood at the top of the flight. There was nothing 
there. He could make out that every door in the 
hall was closed. He heard a movement on the 
floor above, and in another instant he had mounted 
the stairs leading thereto. The door to the attic 
stood wide open ! 

Aha ! ’’ said Erasmus Force to himself, ^^now 
I have got you ! ” 

He closed the door, turned the key in the lock 
and took it in his hand. Then he stepped into his 
bedroom, lighted a fresh candle from’ the one that 
had not yet expired and came back. Unlocking 
and opening the door, he ascended the stairway to 
the attic. The unfloored and rough rafters did not 
appeal to his bare feet. He cast the rays of his 
light in this and that direction, but he could see 


nothing. 


he said, ‘‘ this place shall have 
leave not a square inch of space t 


“ To-morrow,’ 
a search that will 
unexamined.” 

He descended the stairway, closing and locking 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 145 

the door and talking the key with him. He was 
not even satisfied with this, and he did not go back 
again to his bed until he had descended to the 
kitchen,once more returning with hammer and nails, 
nailed up the door with a tightness that forbade the 
probability of any human being descending from 
above without breaking it down or bursting it off 
its hinges. 

As he laid his head upon his pillow it was the 
last thought in his mind as he fell asleep, that at 
length, on the morrow, he would know what it was 
that had been disturbing his household for so long a 
time. He had located, without question, the source 
of all the annoyance. It could not escape him now. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ARK FLOATS AWAY DOWN STREAM. 

The storm without had continued. There was 
but little wind, but the waters had descended in a 
continuous outpour, as though the windows of 
heaven had indeed been opened. 

There was darkness yet over the face of the - 
earth, but in the east there began to be some faint 
glimmer indicating the approach of day. It wSs 
not much, and hardly made an impression on the 
clouds and rain. But it was there. 

Again Erasmus Force awakened suddenly and 
listened. He assuredly heard, above the noise and 
rush of the rain, rattling and pounding and loud 
cries. The impotent chase and effort of the night 
before and the measures he had taken to put an 


146 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE- 


end, as he thought, to the trouble were still in his 
mind. As he sat up in bed to listen more closeh", 
he swore a round oath and pressed his teeth hard 
together. It was too much. As though to em- 
phasize his failure the noises were more distinct 
and the cries more eager and earnest than ever. 
Hardly awake, he could not at first make out the 
locality of the sounds, hut felt sure that they did 
not come from above, which made him all the more 
angry. He arose from his bed with a spring, and 
taking the candle, v/ent into the hall to have a look 
at the attic door. It was just as firm and immov- 
able as he had intended to make it and as he had 
left it. 

How the pounding and the cries increased, and 
determined themselves as coming from below and 
approaching. Erasmus Force went to the stair- 
way and began to descend. A stout breath of 
cold, moist air caught him half way down, and in 
his unclad condition sent a shiver through his 
frame. He could make out the cries now, and the 
noise was like one pounding with his fist on a door. 
The cry was : Mr. Force ! Ho ! Mr. Force ! Wake 
up ! This at length was something human and 
intelligible, but the clear and unmistakable return 
to what was undoubtedly real and human was al- 
most as much of a surprise and shock as had been 
the appearance of something’ suspiciously unnat- 
ural and not to be readily understood, 

Erasmus descended the stairway and walked 
through the broad hall to the door at the rear. 
He tried to open it, remembered his having locked 
it, and then, with an irritated expression, turned the 
key and fiung it open. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


147 


Bony Sam Tyler, in a ragged wolf-robe over- 
coat, dripping with wet, stood there holding a 
lantern in his hand and his jaws just open to cry 
again. 

What the devil do you want, and how in the 
old Harry did you get into ‘ the house ’ ? ’’ exclaimed 
Erasmus Force, Jr. 

'•I just walked in,’’ said Sam, ""because the 
door was open, and I guess every outside door in 
your house is open ! ” 

Erasmus Force felt very perceptibly that the 
man had spoken accurately, for with the opening 
of the door a strong draught was circulating with 
chilly freedom around his bare legs. 

He turned'toward the front of ""the house,” and 
sure enough, the main door there was wide open. 

He ran thither quickly and closed it, with 
curious thoughts revolving in his mind. He didn’t 
have time to consider them, though, for as he re- 
turned Sam continued in explanation : 

‘"I’ve been helping Jonas Barnard watch the 
ark all night. The river is rising, he saj^s, a foot a 
minute. He wants you to come down right away, 
as you ought to push off by daybreak. We’ve had 
to ease up the lines four times in the last, hour, 
and the ice is beginning to come down. He’s look- 
ing to have that go out, and then to go himself.” 

The strange noises, the nailed-up door, every- 
thing vanished from the mind of Erasmus Force at 
this intelligence. It was business there now. 
Something tangible to tackle, as he had often 
expressed it before. 

He woke his wife, told her while he dressed of 
the matter, that probably he might not be home 


148 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


again until he returned from his trip, and followed 
Bony Sam hack to the bank of the river against 
which the ark lay. 

The rain was still descending in torrents, and 
men were standing here and there in the midst of 
it with lanterns in their hands that blinked and 
seemed to wink between the drops. Some stood by 
the thick posts to which the lines from the ark 
were tied, watching the heavy strain on them and 
ready to ease them up a little if the pull threatened 
to be too great. 

The heavily laden ark was tossing like a 
feather upon the disturbed waters, for the river 
had risen with very great rapidity and was yet 
coming up at an unprecedented rate. 

I never saw anything like this before,” said 
Jonas Barnard to Erasmus Force, as Force came 
down the bank and stood by his side. do not 
understand it. The ice should have gone out hours 
ago. It must be stuck above somewhere. We 
ought to be off to catch the flush of the fresh, but 
I wouldn’t dare pull out with the ice behind us.” 

He tried to pierce the darkness toward the west 
over the tumbling and rushing waters coming down 
toward them, but failed to make anything out be- 
yond a few rods away. 

I’ve been on this river more than twenty-five 
years,” he added, presently, ^‘but this beats me.” 

They waited and watched, and the river roared 
toward and past them, still rising, and so quickly 
that it made them step back from where they 
stood still higher upon the bank. And the light 
of the coming day slowly increased. They would 
soon be able to see by what they were surrounded^ 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


149 


and if danger threatened, would not blindly 
have to try to avert it with the darkness to further 
impede or obstruct their efforts. They knew they 
could not control the powerful element that they 
intended to use, but with skill and experience 
they hoped to escape its threatenings and dangers. 

It first came with an exclamation that was al- 
most a cry of dismay from one of the watchers high 
up on the bank. Barnard and Force looked up at 
him and he was pointing up the river. 

The ice is coming at length,’’ said Barnard, 
quietly, after he had looked for a moment in that 
direction. 

It was coming with a vengeance. Great white 
blocks tossing in the current, tumbling about like 
huge water monsters at play, looking whiter from 
the half-gloom by which they were surrounded, 
and from their whiteness, too, adding to the appre- 
hensions as all mysterious, powerful objects of that ^ 
color or want of color do. All looked with great 
intentness, some with excitement and many with 
no little fear. Following the current, these huge 
masses, were to them harmless. Turned toward 
them in any manner and thrown or tossed up 
against them and the bank, there was no force nor 
power that they possessed to stop them in their 
career or ward off the destruction they could cause. , ^ 

They were miles up the river when first seen, 
and notching could be done to prepare for their com- 
ing, only to watch them and keep the lines of the 
ark ready to be eased up on their approach — for 
their rush and swell would assuredly throw it far 
up the bank — and then to cast off and follow the 
great blocks on their journey toward the sea. 


150 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Those were the thoughts of Barnard as he stood 
very still on the bank, half way between the bow 
and stern of the ark, that his directions, whatever 
they might be, should the more readily" be heard 
and the quicker obeyed. He felt his responsibility 
and knew the men under him. To his care was in- 
trusted what, in those days, was a fortune. He 
would do what his experience and skill taught him 
to do, to save it and carry it safely to its hoped-for 
haven. 

Down toward them with the rapidity of an ad- 
vancing corps of cavalry came the white masses, 
stretching even across the river from bank to 
bank, high as was the flood. They could hear the 
crunching and grinding of the blocks as the larger 
ones, pressed by the top of the current, tumbled 
and rolled over and crushed toward the bottom the 
smaller pieces. The heavier ones were all in front, 
d some of them with jagged and rough ends reach- 
ing high in the air, making their fall, when they 
did topple over, more swift and destructive. Much 
higher on the bank than where they stood came the 
accompanying flood of waters, washing up con- 
stantly and not receding, so unlike any tide. 

A projecting promontory at the mouth of the 
gorge in the western hills through which the stream 
plunged, having no effect on the current usually, 
at its present height diverted it to the north, di- 
recting it in line toward the bank where the ark 
was tied. Barnard was the first to notice, this, and 
he saw that the huge masses of ice, thp^fiVst in the 
line, seemed to be aiming precisejly" for the spot 
where he was standing. He never for an instant 
lost his head, although he knew that if the bank 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


151 


was struck all would be lost. He could do nothing-. 
He was helpless. It mig-ht not strike after all, and 
if he undertook to move the vessel, he might move 
it into more danger. 

Not the full force of the current reached them, 
bending, as it came, toward the east. It was only 
like a chance blow or the wind from a cannon-ball, 
but it was enough. Although looked for, watched, 
expected, the great masses of ice swung up toward 
them with a suddenness and swiftness that was 
appalling, some of the blocks rolling even to the 
top of the bank, where they lay undissolved until 
an August sun beat upon and melted them. 

They seized the ark as a child would lift a ball, 
very like intelligent creatures eager to have it join 
with them in their frolic. 

The men all ran up the bank, some of them still 
holding the ends of the lines that had a couple of 
twists around the posts, that they might ease them 
up if it would do any good. The stern line slipped 
up over its post and that end of the boat, gradu- 
ally and slowly feeling the drift of the current, 
began to swing out slowly into it. For a time the 
men clung to the line until it straightened out taut. 
If it had been one steady pull they might have held 
it, perhaps ; but it was a succession of jerks that 
the boat gave, tossing and tumbling in the agi- 
tated and angry waters. No muscles could be 
always prepared and strained for such irregular, 
uncertain, unequal efforts. There came a sudden 
.wrench of tremendous power. Thrice the number 
of men could not have withstood it for a single in- 
stant. The line was snatched from their hands as 
though they had no grasp at all upon it, scraping 


152 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


through some like a file or a hot iron, and, hard as 
they were, carrying their flesh with it. It seemed 
almost alive, like a long snake, as it glided down the 
bank, its end snapping as it disappeared in the 
water like the tail of an angry cobra. 

Not much had been said, not much could be 
said, by Barnard or any of the men, with the pour- 
ing rain beating down upon them and increasing 
indefinitely their difficulties and dangers. Their • 
silence showed all the more clearly their apprecia- 
tion of the terrible situation. 

Erasmus Force stood beside the post over which 
the line from the bow had been thrown. If we can 
hold this, he thought, we can save it after all. 

Lifted by the ice and the flood, the ark straight- 
ened itself out against the current and the strain 
on the remaining line was tremendous, but it held, 
and the vessel began slowly to turn again as though 
to lay itself alongside the bank ; but another swell 
of great blocks of ice struck it, some of them top- 
pling over into it and almost submerging it. 

^^Take care! Take care I ” cried out Barnard 
to Force, ^'Look out for the line ! ’’ and then to 
the men: ^^Ease up a little!” 

For only an instant the men relaxed their mus- 
cles, and at that instant the ark was lifted higher 
up in the struggle with the ice and water, the line 
slipped over the top of the post and Erasmus Force 
was caught by it before he could spring away. In 
the semi-darkness, rain, confusion and trouble of 
mind, when he moved, he was struck by the heavy 
rope and thrown to the ground. One of his legs 
was entangled with it. Like a maddened horse, at 
length seizing his bit in his mouth, the vessel seemed 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


153 


to give a leap and spring away from the bank ; the 
line was straightened out swifter than any man 
could move, but was held firm for a moment by 
the men on the bank. They could doubtless have 
continued to hold it ; but they looked down on the 
bank and saw Erasmus Force lying there a maimed, 
disfigured man. Caught in the twist of the line, 
it had taken off his right leg just below the knee, 
smoother, quicker and cleaner than could any, sur- 
geon’s knife have done it. 

The muscles straining on the line relaxed for a 
moment and, before, they could gather again to 
their work, it, too, had slipped from their grasp and 
glided swiftly from them into the water. The ark, 
released from an}" restraining force, swept away 
from the bank and, tossed and tumbling with the 
ice and crushed and broken by it, loosed and uncon- 
trolled, gave itself to the grasp of the current and 
became ^ wrecked and ruined thing, dispersing 
that which it had held in the waters all the way to 
the sea. 

They all ran to Erasmus Force, the thoughtful 
Barnard the first at his side to tie around the in- 
jured limb a cord so tightly that, certainly until 
the doctor came, the flow of blood was stopped. 
He was borne with much difficulty, but with all the 
tenderness and care possible, to his home, where 
instant and constant attention was given him. 

But a severer affliction had fallen without warn- 
ing on this already stricken family. 

It was decided not to inform Erasmus Force, 
Sr., of the double blows that only an hour or two 
had visited upon him. He should be told in the 
morning when he came down to his breakfast. 


154 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


At the usual hour the favorite among the grand- 
children was sent to his room. She was gone what 
to them seemed to be a very long time and her 
mother finally called her. 

She came downstairs in response very slowly, 
with a strange look in her face. 

can’t wake grandpa up,” she said, with a 
disturbed tone. ‘‘ He won’t hear me and he won’t 
look* at me. I climbed on to the bed and kissed him 
and even then he didn’t notice me. Oh ! how cold 
he was, -too ! ” 

Mrs. Force sprang hastily up the^stairs and flew 
into the old gentleman’s room. He lay there peace- 
fully and quietly, a mild, gentle expression on his 
calm, handsome countenance. The loss of his fort- 
une, the distress of his son were nothing to him now. 

Good old Erasmus Force ” was dead. He, had 
passed away in his sleep, painlessly, without a warn- 
ing, a sigh or a struggle. 


CHAPTER XX. 

KARKLE LEAVES THE POINT. 

Jephthah Karkle had made up his mind to 
leave the Point. It had become to him not an al- 
together delightful spot for his home. Since his 
arrival, among the very first of those who came 
into the wilderness to settle it, some fifteen or 
twenty years before, he had been interested in 
everything that had transpired or taken place in the 
community. He had had his “ finger in every pie.” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


155 


This was neighborly and kind-hearted and was ap- 
preciated by the newcomers, who needed help and 
never scorned an offer for assistance. But his in- 
cessant energy and movement were not founded en- 
tirely on a desire^to do good or render a kindness. 
He wanted an equivalent, a qtiid pro quo. He was 
a lawyer. He had to live, although there was no 
person in the world dependent upon him, or who 
looked to him for the least care or attention. 

Such men are very apt, sometimes, to put their 
fingers in places where,, before they are withdrawn, 
they get sensibly burned, and Karkle first to this 
one, then to that, then to another, had given 
offense, until he had gone pretty well around the 
community and had become probably the most un- 
popular man in it. 

Most of the. things Karkle had esteemed very 
small and petty affairs. Thej^ were, perhaps ; bqt 
sometimes the sting of a bee will be more annoy- 
ing, raise a bigger swelling and its effects last 
longer than the kick from a horse. You may take 
a farmer’s cow from him for debt, knowing that to 
get cash would be an impossibility, and even if he 
have a thousand of them grazing on the hills, that 
one cow will be the most precious of them all. He 
could have given 3'ou the animal without feeling 
the loss, but to be forced to yield it up was what it 
was hard to put up with. Have a care, then, that 
if ever an opportunity should arise, the horns of 
the ever-remembered and alwa^^s-regretted cow 
don’t gore ^mu to death ! 

Karkle was always ready for petty, disturbing 
litigation before the justice of the peace. He liked 
the excitement of the trial, the contention with the 


156 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


opposing attorney, the opportunity offered to fling 
stinging, biting words at witness and opponent or 
any one else that came or that he could drag with- 
in the circumference of the case. He was quick 
with his summons for any little trespass or larceny, 
debt or slander ; and but for him the fees of the 
justice would have been small, indeed. There 
could be but one conclusion to it all. He began 
to be disliked by every one, and at length came to 
be made to feel it in many ways. Withal, how- 
ever, he had not been unsuccessful in accumulating 
a respectable property — some land, a few houses 
and a little ready money. He professed to believe 
that the field he had been occupying had become 
too small for him. He had Reaped and gleaned it 
clean, and he yearned for broader, more extended 
pastures. So he had determined to leave the 
Point and go to some larger place. His considera- 
tion of the subject had been brief, and his decision 
had been quickly arrived at. 

He sat in the room that had served him for an 
office for so many years waiting the coming of the 
one to whom he had leased the place. Another 
came first. It was the strange gentleman again, 
and as he entered the room he accosted Karkle in 
a similar manner as he had heretofore done, sim- 

ply : 

^^Jephthah Karkle ? ” 

Come again, eh ? ” replied Jephthah. ^‘You 
seem to be of irregular habits, like a comet, com- 
ing only at unequal intervals. What now ? ” 

The stranger looked at Jephthah with some 
curiosity. There was a pertness or impertinence 
in the remark, of the cause ®r causes producing 




THE HOUSE TEPwRIBLE. 157 

which he was uncertain. It was either an evidence 
of a clear conscience or of a saucy daring* that 
feared no consequences. 

Yes, I come and g-o pretty much as I like,’’ 
said the strang*er. ^‘1 wait until I am entirely" 
ready and then I move. I said I would come the 
third time to you — my final visit — and here I am.” 

Being here, then, what of it ? ” Karkle contin- 
ued, in his light and airy manner. 

settlement,” replied the stranger, ver}" 
laconically.. 

Settlement ? With whom ? ” Karkle asked. 

‘‘'You,” replied the stranger. 

^‘I’ve nothing to settle with ^mu,” said Karkle. 

I’ve settled with every one and am only waiting 
the coming of the man to whom this house is leased 
to get away from this valley.” 

'^I’m just in time, then,” said the stranger. 

‘^Kot knowing what your time is,” Karkle con- 
tinued, ‘^1 can neither affirm nor deny your allega- 
tion.” 

^^Well, then,” the stranger said, firmly, to 
come to an explanation and determination, I am 
come, at length, to claim and to take possession of 
what was the Colonel Brentford Atwater property.” 

‘‘ I cannot see,” broke in Karkle, what that 
purpose can possibly have to do with me. At the 
best, it was never for an instant in my possession 
and now I have no more interest in it or care for it 
than I have for the moon. I never was more than 
a mere agent, so far as it was concerned.” 

^*I don’t wish it or claim it through Colonel 
Atwater,” continued the stranger, not minding 
apparently what Karkle had said. '^He held it 


/ 


158 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


only hy a rope of sand, and those who hold it now 
hold through him and therefore have no clear title 
to it.’’ 

I guess you’ll find that it’ll hold,” quietly 
murmured rather than spoke Karkle. 

‘^ISTot against me,” said the stranger. 

Well, now,” Karkle exclaimed, with his most 
impertinent cross-examination manner, ^^I’d just 
like to know who you are. You have been here 
twice before this, coming mysteriously and as mys- 
teriously departing, once as representing Colonel 
Atwater, or his creditors, once as the agent of the 
Asbestos. I have taken you at your word as being 
what you said you were, and as you didn’t run up 
against me, why I didn’t care who you were. Who 
are you, now ? ” 

Yes ; I was both of those that you have 
named,” the stranger replied; and as to them, 

I am satisfied. As I told you before, there was 
nothing here for the creditors of Colonel Atwater. 

I didn’t disturb you in the interest of the Asbestos, 
because you were doing as well as you could for it, 
and as well as anj^ one could. But I am more than : 
that now. I represent no one. I am the principal 
this time. I am James Bunn, the jmungest brother ' 
of Isaac Bunn.” He stopped, and taking from his 
pocket a small card, handed it to Karkle. Jephthah 
took the bit of pasteboard in his hand and looked •' 
for a moment at his visitor with an increased in- * 
terest, but without any apparent apprehension. .1 
He then glanced at the card, reading thereon in ^ 
plain, black type, the words: ''James Bunn, At- 
tofney and Counselor-at-Law, and Solicitor in 
Chancery.” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


159 


! ’’ was his only remark as he looked up 
ag-ain into the face of his visitor. 

“Yes/^ the stranger pursued. am Isaac 
Bunn’s youngest brother. Let me tell you, to be- 
gin with, when I first began to investigate Colonel 
Atwater’s affairs, and came across my brother’s 
name, I begati., to suspect there was something 
wrong somewhere. Further search more than 
confirmed my suspicions. For that reason, and be- 
cause the Atwater property here was practically 
valueless, I made no move to claim it or hold it. I 
knew what you were doing and what you did. As 
I have said, your management of the Asbestos in- 
terests was all that could be desired. It is since 
then that my suspicions have been entirely con- 
firmed, and being confirmed, I am more than I was 
at either of my other two visits. I am the trustee 
of Isaac Bunn’s property and the guardian of his 
only heir, Isaac Bunn also, known here better as 
Dandy lion than bj’’ his true name.” 

I can’t wish you much joy over your trust or 
your ward,” said Karkle, unable to resist the 
temptation to get in his fiirug- at the visitor. ‘‘Nor 
can I yet perceive why you should come to me with 
the matter, nor what concern it is of mine.” 

You were instrumental, not to mince mat- 
ters,” said James Bunn, with considerable severity, 
in robbing my brother of his property — ” 

Now, hold up right there,” interrupted Karkle. 
At least once before you have intimated what 
you have now clearly declared. And I won’t stand 
it. I would have you to know that if any wrong 
was done. Colonel Atwater did it, and if any bene- 
fits were reaped from the wrong, which I much 


160 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


doubt, he alone was the beneficiary. I simply car- 
ried out his instructions and complied with his di- 
rections. He came to me with what I took pains 
to inform myself were conveyances that could not, 
in my judgment, be questioned. All I did was 
what you yourself would have done, and was to see 
to it that he was put into possession of what was 
or seemed to be his own.” 

James Bunn looked at Karkle with a glance 
that if it could have been materialized would have 
pierced him through and through. 

^‘1 had thought,” he said, that as you alone 
knew of the details of the matter 3mu would help 
undo the wrong done. If there is to be litigation 
over our claim, you would be the man to set it all 
right.” 

^^And confess that the wrong was done by 
me ! ” exclaimed Karkle. ^‘1 guess not. You’ve 
struck the wrong man this time. I don’t care 
what is done,” he continued, a little impatientl3r. 

shall do nothing. I am going to get but of this 
as soon as I can. I’ll have nothing more to do with 
it one way or the other”’ 

These words seemed to please James Bunn 
rather than otherwise, for the expression on his 
face softened. 

''I don’t mind telling you,” continued Karkle, 
that if you have a shadow of a claim on the prop- 
erty you will have no opposition in securing posses- 
sion, or at the worst, a merel3" nominal opposition. 
None of the Force family remains here. After the 
elder one died, they all returned to the South from 
where they came originally. And I happen to 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


161 


know that they were in very reduced circum- 
stances.’’ 

Our claim,” Bunn replied, ^Ms more substan- 
tial than a shadow, and would win in the end, no 
matter what might be the opposition. It is founded 
on a title and right that antedates any that secured 
the land to Atwater. He omitted canceling or ex- 
tinguishing a claim held by another State through 
a very ancient charter on which my brother’s 
rights rested. He did not go far enough back 
to find it, and my brother did not know it. I have 
dug it out myself, and the courts and the legis- 
lature confirnied it.” 

I don’t care what your title and rights are ! ” 
Karkle said. It is all a matter of perfect indiffer- 
ence to me whether you get the property or not. I 
leave this valley this afternoon. I trust I shall 
never see it again. I hate it all.” 

‘^But supposing I should require you, where 
Should I be able to find you ? ” James Bunn asked. 

You won’t require me,” Karkle replied. If 
you do, jmu’ll have to hunt me up. I hardly know 
where I shall find myself in six weeks’ time.” 

Bunn responded not at all to this, but stood for 
a moment thinking. Then, . without a word of 
leave-taking or any recognition even of the pres- 
ence of Karkle, he turned toward the door ^nd 
passed out of the house. 

Karkle rose from his chair and watched him to 
the turn in the street that led down toward Obed 
Bunn’s farm. There wasn’t a pleasant smile on 
Karkle’s face, nor did the restless movements of 
his hands indicate that pleasant thoughts were in 
his mind. 


162 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Let’s see,” he muttered to himself, as Bunn 
disappeared. Let’s see. Count ’em up. Isaac 
Bunn, Colonel Atwater, Cantine, Catlin and his 
wife and the two Forces, not to mention Dandylion 
and his mother. What does it all mean ? Nine, 
Will he be the tenth, and how ? He puts his hands 
into the fire more than willing*ly — anxiously. I 
think what I said rather helped than hindered him 
toward it. I didn’t want to stand in his way. 
Oh ! no. I will not be here, but I shall know. 
And I shall be very curious to know.” 


CHAPTER XXI. 

OBED BUNN WON’T HAVE IT. 

It is not at all likel}’’ that the coming of anj- 
other persons ever made so decided an impression 
on the Point as was created when Mr. James Bunn 
and his wife, Mrs. Venetia Bunn, came there to 
make it their permanent home. 

Mrs. Bunn was an unusually beautiful woman, 
and long enjoyed the reputation of having been the 
superior in that respect of any who had ever 
breathed the air of the valley. She was a slight, 
frail creature, but exquisitely proportioned, with 
movements as graceful as those of a wave. Her 
eyes were large, dreamy and wistful, which, when 
they looked full at you, seemed to swallow you all 
up ; her hair was a deep brown, and plentiful, worn 
waving over her ears and twisted into a tall knot 
at the back of her head. 

Mentally, she was as delicate and sensitive as 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


163 


she was physically ; indeed, it could hardly be 
otherwise than that she should have a mind sweet 
and sensitive, to be in harmony with her person. 
Some of its sweetness and music she had g'iven to 
the public in the way of verses that had not only 
attracted the attention of this country with their 
rhythm and poetry, but had been commented upon 
with praise and hopefulness across the Atlantic. 
She gave promise, they said, of giving to America 
a singer whose melodies would sweeten and 
brighten the literature of her own generation and 
be models for future years. The pages of many 
a magazine of the day bear full testirnony to a 
promise, not an isolated instance, that was never 
fulfilled. 

She had always had a desire, amounting almost 
to a passion, to live in the country, on high ground; 
and in her city home she always chose for her own 
particular cozy apartment the highest room in the 
house. ■ 

While James Bunn had been engaged in secur- 
ing the property that had belonged to his elder 
brother, his wife had come into the valley and taken 
up ‘ her abiding-place with Obed Bunn. As she 
charmed all who came in contact with her, so was 
she charmed by the situation in which her husband 
was able, with much gratification to himself, to 
place her. She was eagerness itself to get into 
the house ” and enjoy all of the beauties it seemed 
to possess .in itself and all the delights by which it 
was surrounded. 

Erasmus Force came into the valley during the 
time, the only visit that he ever made after his 
affliction, drawn thither by the hope- that a little 


164 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


something*, at least, could be saved from the prop- 
erty, the ownership of which had been so ,disas- 
trous to his family or with the ownership of which 
was associated such dire calamity. He had the 
deepest sympathy of every inhabitant of the settle- 
ment, who looked at his crutches almost with tears 
in their eyes, and in the too evident expectation 
that he would have to yield to a superior claim 
every foot of ground that once had been so much of 
their pride. 

He never once went near the place. 

There is that about it,’’ he said, that I can- 
not remember nor reflect upon without a shudder. 
I could not look at it except with pain. It is hate- 
ful to my sight, and I would part with it without 
a regret. If with compensation, why, the better 
for me and my family ; if without, why, it is gone 
and we will be freed from what has been to us, it 
seems to me, a curse, much harder to be borne be- 
cause it has fallen on us through no fault of ours 
that we know of.” 

With such sentiments, he made but little con- 
test and that not a prolonged one. 

It was not many months, then, before the desire 
of Mrs. Bunn’s heart was gratified and she became 
mistress of the house.” A notable event followed 
within three months after she was fully settled. 
She called it her ‘^house-warming.” The whole 
countr\^side was present at the festivities, and there 
was exhibited, for the first time in the valley, a 
piano-forte. The arrival of the square box contain- 
ing it, drawn by wagon from the lake, twenty miles 
away, had been attended with great curiosity, not 
to say excitement. Its coming had been heralded 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE.' 165 

da3rs in advance, and its progress through the 
streets toward the house” was-»watched with 
interest. 

^^It looks like a double coffin-case,” was the 
cheerful observation of Captain Nathaniel Allchin. 

Mrs. Bunn played and sang nearly the whole 
evening, first to one pleased group and then to an- 
other. It was an event that to this day is marked 
with a white stone. But the chief joy was when, at 
the close of the evening, she accompanied the lone fid- 
dle and flute that inspired the heels of the crowd to 
movement. It added ' inspiration and elasticity to 
every change. The sincere and heartj^ wish of every 
guest was that the newcomers should have a long 
and happy life among them. There was every 
promise of it. 

The changed condition of affairs affected no one 
more perceptibly than it did Bandy lion, although, 
as he could not understand it, so he could not ap- 
preciates it and took little advantage of it. He could 
not be kept at the house for any length of time, 
much pr^erring his uncle Obed^s place, and, better 
than either, the almost entirely destroyed hut at 
the foot of the hills, to which he continually made 
visits. His clothing was better — that is, for a while 
after it was new — but only a few days sufficed to 
reduce rt to an unseemly appearance. It must 
needs be so, for his constant decorations of dande- 
lions, oftenest with the earth on their roots* just as 
he plucked them from the ground, did not tend to 
preserve a neatness in his apparel. 

And another one deeply interested, if only theo- 
retically, in the whole matter, was Captain Nathan- 
iel Allchin. His efforts at the tavern were wise 


166 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


and frequent, whenever he could get any one to 
listen to him. 

It’s all right now,” he said. Israel, stand- 
ing for Isaac, this time has come to his own. The 
spirit is laid, whatever it was. You’ll remember I 
said that there was something wrong with Colonel 
Atwater. Too much splurge, too much pomposity. 
How has it all turned out ? ” 

Not every arrangement about the house ” 
was entirely satisfactory to Mrs. Bunn, as she dis- 
covered after she had been living in it for some 
time, perfect as it had seemed to the builder and 
others. She wanted a closet here, a door cut there, 
a window inserted in another place. Mr. Bunn 
himself considered all of these changes to be mere 
whims, but he was there to gratify every wish of 
his wife’s heart, and whimsical or reasonable, that 
which she asked must be complied with. 

Mr. Bunn sent for Cameron Catlin. Catlin had 
gone backward in more ways than one. Of course 
a most superior workman, when he was entirely 
himself, his services at such times were always in 
demand and appreciated. But those times came 
seldom. He had grown careless of his personal ap- 
pearance and was not an attractive object on the 
streets or at work. Some looked upon him with 
contempt, some with pity, but no one questioned 
his excellence in his own line of work. For a time 
after h6 had been driven from his home, his wife 
and the one child left occupied, they can hardly 
have been said to have lived, in a very small tene- 
ment on the bank of the river. Damp and unwhole- 
some, it was no proper place for the most vigorous. 
Alice felt it, and it was not long before, on the 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE.' 


167 


insistence ef her mother, Aunty Skerrett, that she 
went with her to live in her old home. The separa- 
tion between Cameron and herself was complete. 

Gatlin answered James Bunn’s summons. He 
was always willing' to have excuse to be near ‘‘ the 
house,” in Its shadow, underneath its roof. With 
Mr. Bunn and his wife he went over the premises 
and was told by Mrs. Bunn : I want this done ; ” 

want that done.” Catlin made no reply, not 
even mentally taking notes of what was desired. 

The inspection completed, they all proceeded 
toward one of the lower rooms to consider the cost 
and the time that would be required to complete 
the work. 

Catlin stood in the doorway twisting his hat in 
his hands. 

‘‘1 can’t do the job for you, Mr. Bunn,” he 
said. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Bunn looked at him with 
surprise. 

Can’t ? ” echoed Mr. Bunn. Why, what’s 
the matter ? Too much work on hand ? ” 

There was a slight blush on Gatlin’s cheek as he 
felt the sneer hidden in the remark. Too much 
work ! He needed this, as he needed bread and 
clothes. 

You could not understand me, if I should tell 
you why,” he replied. ‘‘1 dare not. I built this 
house myself. When I left it, I left it finished, 
complete. To add to, take away from or change 
it would deform it. It came into my brain as it 
stands. It seems to be a part of me. Look at a 
perfectly formed child. Would you improve it by 
cutting off a leg and giving it a wooden one, or pull- 


168 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


mg' out its teeth and g'iving it a false set ? That is 
what 3^ou would do to this house, did you make the 
changes you have suggested ? ” 

He turned from them, pulling his hat down over 
his eyeSf and left the house.’’ 

Mr. and Mrs. Bunn looked after him with some 
astonishment, Mrs. Bunn laughing a strange little 
laugh that made her husband turn toward her with 
some curiosity. Perhaps her poetical nature gave, 
her some hint as to Gatlin’s feelings. 

The result was that another man was consulted 
as to the work. But before it had been decided 
upon, Gatlin came to Mr. Bunn. 

^^If it’s got to be done,” he said, ^Met me 
do it.” 

And Mr. Bunn was only too willing to give him 
the work to do. 

Once begun, there seemed to be no end to the 
changes that were suggested to Mrs. Bunn’s mind. 

It looks as though Gatlin was going to have 
a permanent job,” said her husband to her one day. 

One that will last him for the remainder of his 
lifetime.” 

Mrs. Bunn replied only with that light little 
laugh that had before attracted Mr. Bunn’s atten- 
tion . 

All of these changes had, so far as they went, 
been made on the interior of the house.” It was 
evident after a time that Mrs. Bunn’s attention 
was attracted toward the exterior. She spent a 
great deal of the time out of doors and constantly 
looking at ^^the house” from different points of view. 
She would go to the extreme limits of the plateau 
and stand, her head turned one side, as though 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


169 


critically examining- every ang-le and point, chang*- 
ing her position slightly or largely as the desire 
moved her. Then she would come closer and look 
up toward the eaves and roof with a long and 
earnest gaze. 

This went on for ma^ny days while Gatlin was 
yet engaged upon his work within. 

Mr. Bunn would have been less the husband 
than he was if he had failed to observe that some- 
thing was annoying and perplexing his wife. When 
he came home from the office of an evening, taking 
her by the hand^nd giving her a kiss as ^had 
always been his habit, he noticed that her flesh was 
dry and hot ; two very red spots rode like signal 
lamps of danger high on her cheeks, and her eyes 
were hard and cold with distended pupils and an 
unnatural stare. 

Kot always thus, but-occasionalh^, and growing 
more frequent. He knew that she had no very 
exacting household cares, as he saw to it that she 
was provided with competent servants, and he 
knew, too, that she wrote much, and at sucli times 
was always in a fever of excitement, the creative 
impulse acting on such sensitive natures sometimes 
with the force and effect of a powerful stimulant. 
She was kind, good, lovable, submissive, as she 
always had been, and was evidently in the highest 
physical health, enjoying every moment of her life 
and being a companion to him as close as was his 
own heart. 

To an occasional hint as to her condition, her 
reply was always the same : "" I’ve been trying to 
write a little,” and that sufficed to him. 

Perhaps the great desire that had grown up in 


170 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


her mind explained it all. It found expression at 
liheir tea-table one evening*, and came abruptly, no 
word that had been spoken leading* up to it. 

I want a tower,” she said. 

James Bunn looked over at her with some little 
astonishment in his eyes. 

A tower ? ” he repeated, guestioningl^L 

She nodded her head. 

Where in the world would you put such a 
thing?” he asked. 

In the angle there, between the west wing and 
the south part of ‘ the house. A tower, four sto- 
ries high ! ” She spoke rapidly, almost hysterically. 
‘^The upper room for my books and my music, 
and the other stories for sleeping -rooms and a par- 
lor on the ground floor.” 

Haven’t you got all the rooms you can ver3’’ 
well occupy now, my love ? ” asked Mr. Bunn, some- 
what more soothingly than he was accustomed to 
speak. 

want a tower,” Mrs. Bunn replied, not like a 
teasing, persistent child, but as though only stat- 
ing a common fact. 

Mr. Bunn looked at his wife more closely than 
he- had ever looked. Her eyes were bent on the 
table, the long lashes drooping over her cheeks. 
There was a high color on her face, and Mr. Bunn 
thought he had never seen her looking quite so 
attractive before. 

Cameron Gatlin was called in. 

My wife wants a four-story tower put up in 
the angle between the west wing and the southern 
part of ^ the house,’ ” said Mr, Bunn to him. Can 
you do it ? ” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


171 


Gatlin looked at both of them with horror, 
standing open-mouthed before them after he had 
repeated the words : ‘‘A tower ! 

Would yon make a deformity of ^ the house,’ 
an eyesore in the landscape ? ” he added, presently. 

It takes my breath away only to think of it.” 

Mrs. Bunn smiled. I think it would complete 
and beautify the whole scene,” she said, ‘"and its 
usefulness to me is apparent.” 

‘lit is not a matter for argument,” Mr. Bunn 
said, in a conclusive manner. “ My wife wants it.” 

Gatlin left them with a groan. He went out 
and stood at various points to take in and imagine, 
if possible, the effect the proposed change would 
make, and at every spot he shook his head with 
more and more emphasis. 

But it mattered not. Mrs. Bunn wanted the 
tower built and Mr. Bunn, as he said, was there to 
see to it that his wife’s wishes were gratified. She 
talked to him in a low, sweet tone of the manner in 
which the uppermost story should be fitted up — all 
windows, with nothing to obstruct the view to any 
point. It would be an incentive and an inspiration 
to her. Soft couches on all sides with heavy pillows 
on the window benches, a carpet on the floor, so 
thick that you would hardly know you were step- 
ping upon anything, and no chair but what was al- 
most a couch in itself. Everything, too, in one 
color — the hangings, draperies and upholstering — a 
deep, warm red, to harmonize with her own temper- 
ament and complexion. 

Mr. Bunn did not-j^egret his wish to please and 
gratify his wife. 

With the heaviest of heavy hearts, Gatlin 


172 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


watched the foundations of the new addition laid 
and the timbers go up, for he could have let no one 
else undertake to make the chang-e. He thought, 
with some suggestions of his own that he could 
carry out, he would he able to preserve the sym- 
metry and harmony of the whole. Yet it disturbed 
him more than he had ever been before disturbed, 
filling his waking hours with an apprehension, 
sometimes he thought a premonition, that, in his 
sleep, became terrifying. The house ’’ was crush- 
ing him. From the moment he saw the first stone 
of the tower until it was completed, he never once 
smiled. And what was to be the more remarked, 
his habits changed. He ceased entirely his visits 
to Caleb Ordway’s barroom. There was some- 
thing resting on him that he could not shake off 
and that drink would have made onl}^ the heavier 
to bear. 

Mrs. Bunn’s uneasiness and apparent perplexity 
passed away, too. She was ever on the watch as 
the building progressed, sitting for hours looking 
at the men piling stone upon stone toward the top, 
or others fitting and finishing the interior. There 
was a heightened and heightening color in her face 
and her eyes grew to have more intenseness and 
sparkle in them. But when Mr. Bunn came home 
at noon for his dinner and in the evening she took 
care to have herself decked with the most attract- 
ive and becoming gowns, although she seldom 
raised her eyes to his. He had always admired 
her drooping eyelashes ; thought she looked unusu- 
ally lovely and seemed to be perfectly happy. He 
asked no more. 

Catlin hurried the work through. He easily 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


173 


observed the impatience of Mrs. Bunn, and his own 
desire was to hurry it up and have done with it. 

The roof of the tower was a sharp and pointed 
one, almost running^ to the heig’ht and shape of a 
church steeple. It was tinned, and shone in the 
sunlig’ht with Bhe brightness of a burnished shield. 
Mrs. Bunn and Gatlin stood a little distance off 
looking at the rhen gathering up their tools and 
preparing to take down the scaffolding, signalizing 
the completion at least of the exterior of the addi- 
tion. 

Gatlin looked at it all with disgust plainly mani_ 
fest on his features, while Mrs. Bunn, with her 
hands slightly raised and clasped, beamed with 
satisfaction over the accomplishment of her de- 
sires. Presently, Gatlin went in to help or to give 
some directions, and in a moment or two he ap- 
peared in one or the uppermost windows looking 
aloft and pointing with his right hand. 

There is no more magnificent spectacle to wit- 
ness than can be seen frorii the far eastern hills of 
the valle}^ when a storm comes sweeping down 
from the northwest, following directly the course 
of the river. There is a wide outlook with nothing 
to obstruct the view of the heavens, the hills to 
the west lying low in the horizon. It is like an 
arm3" advancing with banners, platoon b}^ platoon 
and corps by corps. The little, bright, shimmering 
clouds at first are the skirmish lines, dead in the 
wind, coming up with great rapidity, then darker 
clouds the cavalry, and darker still behind in great 
masses the artillery and infantry, all rolling and 
tumbling over each other with an apparent eager- 
ness to get to the front. And the flashes of light 


174 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

these darker clouds still more intensify the like- 
ness, furnishing pyrotechnics that, as heavenly 
things surpass earthly ones, so do these surpass 
what man can produce. 

Such a storm came, sweeping ^own the valley. 
The men saw it, and, hastening in their work, drew 
their tools all in and clambered down the ladders 
and stairs to the ground. 

Gatlin was delayed with some rope and tack- 
ling. 

With the suddenness of such storms, the rain 
came at first, not by degrees working up to a down- 
pour, but all at once with a rush and dash as 
though the heaviest clouds were* in the advance. 
The sun was obscured, and there was a sickly, yel- 
lowish tinge in the atmosphere that made the 
temporary gloom more and more^ gloomy. 

It was instantaneous. 

A livid bolt just over their heads shot out from 
the doors of heaven, and with an aim as direct as.. 
that with which the lightning always flies, struck 
the point of the tower that lifted itself the highest 
in the air. It went downward with a hissing and 
sputter and a sulphurous smell right through tim- 
ber, stone and floor, carrying fire and destruction 
in its course, burying itself in the ground under- 
neath. There was a deafening roar, as though the 
heavens and earth were being torn asunder, and a 
deluge of water. The smoking and burning tower 
was saved from being made a prey to the flames, 
but it was a ruin. 

Venetia Bunn had not stirred from the place 
where she had been standing. But her attitude 
and actions would have moved the most unsympa- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


175 


thetic. The downpour of the rain had torn the hat 
from her head and loosened the masses of her hair. 
In the midst of it ail she raised her face toward the 
heavens, and, lifting both hands, uttered the most 
fearful imprecations. The men within, saved from 
the bolt, looked at her with something like awe, 
and dared not go to her to persuade or assist her 
into the house.’’ 

It was but a terrific gust — a short, passionate 
burst from heaven. In only a few minutes the wind 
swept the heavy clouds along, following the course 
of the river south, the muttering of the thunder in 
the distance seemed like the insane laughter of some 
unnatural demon over the destruction he had caused, 
and the sun was shining again. How could it seem 
to smile so pleasantly when it looked down upon 
such a wreck ? 

The men went into the tower again, thinking of 
Gatlin, who for the moment had been forgotten in 
*the fierceness of the storm and in the sight pre- • 
sented by Mrs. Bunn. They didn’t have to look 
long. The first one to enter the lower floor threw 
up his hands in affright and cried : 

^^My God!” 

And the rest crowded around. 

Gatlin had been hurled from the uppermost 
story to the lowest one, following in the track of 
the bolt, and lay there stunned. He revived for 
an instant, while they stood looking. One of them 
standing nearer, who had stooped over to touch 
him and see if anything could be done, heard him 
murmur the name Alice ” twice, with some other 
word that sounded like forgive.” That was all, 
and the little flash of consciousness vanished, leav- 


176 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


ing* him lifeless. There was not a mark or bruise 
foun^ on his person except that the hair on one 
side of his head seemed to show having been touched 
and scorched by a flame. 

James Bunn could see the new tower of his 
house from his office window, and as his heart was 
there where his treasure was, his eyes had often 
sought it when it had risen to a height sufficient to 
be discerned. He saw the storm coming up. He 
saw the bolt and flash as it descended, and trem- 
bling with apprehension rushed from the room, al- 
most forgetting even his hat, and without covering 
ran in the drenching rain to his home. 

So brief had been the storm that the sun was 
shining when he arrived there, breathless with his 
excitement and his unusual exertion. 

Where’s Venetia ? ” he cried, springing in at 
the doorway. 

“ She was there a moment ago,” one of his 
workmen replied, w^ho happened to be standing 
near, pointing as he spoke to the spot where Mrs. 
Bunn had been standing. 

James Bunn walked hastily through the hall 
and looked into the tower. He saw how it had 
been ruined, but it made no impression on his mind. 
He was not looking for that. 

He walked, calling his wife’s name, through the 
halls and up into her own room, then down again 
into the library and the front room used as a par- 
lor or drawing-room. There he found her, crouched 
down in a corner, with a chair pulled in front of 
her. 

He was startled, alarmed at her appearance, her 
garments dripping with water, her hair disheveled 


THE HOUSE TERRIBUE. 


177 


and hanging to the floor and her shining eyes 
watching him with the flerceness of those of a lion- 
ess guarding the young lions attacked by an enemy. 

He went toward her, saying, in a soothing tone, 
but trembling as well : 

Venetia, my dear love, what is it ? ” 

She shrank from him closer to herself, shrugging 
her shoulders and biting at the tips of her fingers. 

Still approaching, he suddenly snatched away 
the chair in front of her. She flew at him with a 
half snarl and shriek; trying to get her fingers in 
his hair and at his eyes. But she was slight and 
slender, although moved by a maniacal ferocity, 
and he was large and strong. The cold perspira- 
tion stood on his forehead and face. 

God forgive me that I must use force with this 
dear child,’’ he groaned, as he seized her by the 
wrists, holding her thus until help came to him to 
confine and restrain her. 

Weeks afterward, from an absence, he came 
back to the Point alone. He was so changed that 
his brother Obed scarcely knew him. His head 
was bowed and he stooped. His air of confidence, 
giving to one the impression that if he did not own, 
he could at least control, everything in sight, was 
all gone. There were deep lines in his face and his 
hair was white. 

They say it is ended,” he said to Obed after 
a time. “ She was created on too fine lines for this 
rough world. Any severe shock, such as she had, 
might have cut the cord forever that linked her 
mind to sanity. Ah ! me. What is life ? Better 
me than her. The world did not need me. It 
wanted her.” 


178 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

After a day or two he came into the room where 
Obed was sitting* looking into the hre on the hearth 
and musing in a melancholy frame of mind, for 
there was a deep shadow on his face. 

James had a small bundle of papers in his hand, 
and as he came in, he reached them over to his 
brother. 

‘>What are these ? ” Obed asked, without offer- ^ 
ing to take them. | 

A transfer deed of the trust of Isaac’s prop- ^ 
erty and the guardianship of Dandylion from me 
to you, all properly executed and needing only to 
be recorded to perfect your right,” James Bunn , 
replied. I have given up all and everything to 
you. I shall go from here forever.” 

Obed shuddered and motioned the papers away 
from him with a wave of his hand and a shake of ' 
the head. 

What do I want with them ? ” he asked. 

He rose from the chair and went toward the 
window, saying as he did so: ‘^Come here, James. | 
Put those, things on the table.” | 

James Bunn followed his brother and stood by | 
his side. 

Obed pointed toward the meadows and fields 
spread out before them, reaching from the foot of r 
the hills to the river bank, well-kept, thrifty and % 
well-fenced meadows and fields that he himself had I 
reclaimed from the primeval forest and wilderness. | 

‘"What do I want with those?” again Obed | 

asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder rather ^ 
contemptuously at the table where the deeds were 
lying. What do I want with those and all this - 
that you see ■ 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


179 


I have g*ot through here, Obed,” said James. 
“ My life is broken — a wreck. I cannot stay here. 
There is a pall covering this whole landscape which 
can never be pierced, no matter how bright the sun 
may shine. I thought to make her life so happy 
and — see ! The light of her eyes, the brightness of 
her mind gone out forever ! He stopped with a 
groan and a sob, covering his e3^es with his hands. 

Obed bit his lips, closed his hands tightly and 
stamped on the floor. There is a curse on it all, 
James, I know not from where or why, and you 
came within its shadow innocently ; but that made 
no difference,’’ cried Obed, in a fierce, bitter tone. 

I don’t want it, I won’t touch it, I have all I need. 
More than is necessary for Cynthia and myself. 
We have no children. Dandy shall be to us as he 
alwa.ys has been. We will care for him.” 

With this he went to the hearth and took up 
the tongs. Going to the table with them, he seized 
the little bundle of papers, even then holding them 
out at arms’-length, laying them upon the blazing 
logs.^ James made no objection, and the two 
brothers watched the deeds as they burst into a 
blaze, burned with fierceness and fell at length to 
pieces among the coals, ashes and black cinders. 

The curse, if it is a curse ; the shadow, if it is 
a shadow, can fall on no one now,” said James. 
^^We have washed our hands of all title and pos- 
session, and there is no one to claim or own it.” 


18C 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE ORIGINAL CLAIMANT. 

A MAN sat fishing one summer day from the 
banks of a wide river. There was a great bend in 
the stream there and the swift current hugged the 
opposite shore, while where the man sat there was 
a great cove or bay in which the water was deep 
and as quiet as though it lay in a roadside pond. 
He was a large man, not unwield^^, but unnat- 
urally gross and heavy, his garments fitting him 
so snugly that he seemed to have had them made 
on him and he had swollen in every limb since they 
had been finished. There was no sign of beard on 
chin, cheek or lip ; but his whole face was like that 
of a baby’s — shiooth and round as though nothing 
had been changed in his appearance at his birth 
except his size. Dandelions in his collar, sleeves, 
trousers pockets and hat showed he was the same 
Dandylion of more than a quarter of a century be- 
fore. 

The lapse of time was shown in more ways than 
one. The one small fish lying b^^ his side indicated 
only too truly that the river, wide as it was, had 
been whipped by many lines and dragged with 
many a. seine. There were more hands to throw 
the one and pull with the other. 

And all about were evidences of the patient, 
day by day, enduring labor of those living in the 
valley. The forests had given way to wide fields 
well-fenced and under cultivation. Looking in any 
direction and you could see substantial frame dwell- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


181 


ings and comfortable barns and outhouses, cattle 
were g-razing in the fields, a four-horse stage-coach 
bowled by on the smooth but a little dusty road, 
and not half a mile up the river could be seen the 
cluster of houses, now a well-peopled village, the 
three settlements of the earlier times having grown 
together, with a spire or two in sight, and the tall 
chimney of a manufactory, all now arrived at the 
dignity of a real name on the map, a musical name 
in souiad, feminine in its character and somewhat 
noted for its conspicuous citizens. 

Dandylion was evidently impatient in his work 
or pla3^, as indeterminate, irresponsible creatures 
such as he are apt to be. He was constantly jerk- 
ing his line out and casting it in another spot. He 
couldn’t wait. He was interested and vigilant, but 
uneasy. 

He could not have noticed it, for it happened be- 
hind him. A female figure left the road there, 
came down a short lane and went over a low fence 
just at his back, like an antelope. 

Three steps, silent and unheard, brought her 
just behind him. She stood as straight as a pine 
spar, her shoulders thrown back and her chin 
slightly depressed, and every movement she made 
indicative of a woman in the prime of her womanli- 
ness and physical vigor. She was bareheaded ; 
but her black hair, thick and coarse, formed a suffi- 
cient covering and protection for her. A blanket, 
a shade darker than lilac and not quite purple, was 
flung over her shoulders in the manner of a shawl, 
one corner of it evidently intended for a head cov- 
ering, if such were needed. A dark brown petti- 
coat and skirt formed her dress, and she wore 


182 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

moccasins on her feet. Blanket, petticoat, skirt 
and moccasins were decorated, not profuselj^, but 
sufficiently, with beads and small feathers. 

She stood a moment just behind Dandylion, while 
something very like a smile hovered about her lips. 

I hoped so. I thought so, and here it is,” she said, 
and she touched the fisherman on the shoulder. 

He didn’t look up at first, but shook himself 
with a slight shrug of his shoulder. 

Dand^dion ! ” she exclaimed. 

Then he turned toward her. 

At first there came into his eyes a look border- 
ing on fright, accompanied by a low cry that indi- 
cated alarm. It instantly changed when he looked 
full into her face and eyes. He dropped pole and 
line, springing to his feet with great excitement. 
He gently touched her hands and cheeks and 
smoothed down her dress. He flung himself at her 
feet and laid his head upon them, all his actions ac- 
companied by a piteous low cry or moan that would 
have drawn tears rather than smiles. Manifesta- 
tions such as, if made by a favorite dog or other 
petted domestic animal, would have been welcome 
and gratifying ; coming from a human being, only 
pitiful, if not repulsive. 

^^Poor Dand}^ ! ” she said. -^He, at least, rec- 
ognizes me. He knows and welcomes me.” 

Grasping her shawl with both hands, he began 
pulling her toward his uncle Obed’s farmhouse, 
only a few rods away. She resisted at first, say- 
ing: ‘^'Hot there. Dandy. ISTot there. 1 have 
come for my own and there must I go.” 

But presently she yielded to his-dumb impor- 
tunities and entreaties and followed him. 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


183 


What Mrs. Bunn’s welcome lacked in cordiality 
it made up in astonishment, her first g-reeting 
being- : ‘‘Why, if it isn’t Vile !” And she called 
to Obed in an adjoining room. 

Obed looked Violet all over with considerable 
interest and curiosity. She was dusty and some- 
what travel-worn and stained, but there was that 
about her which manifested an independence and 
spirit that lacked not for means to sustain it. 

“Where you bin so many j^ears ? ” Obed asked. 

“ Among those of my own kind,” Violet replied. 
“Far to the west. Far beyond th’ Ohio.” 

“It brings back my young days to see you 
ag’in,” Obed went on. “We don’t get sich sights 
as you ’round these parts very often now, as often 
as we used when I first came here. And things all 
about look different, too, don’t they. Vile ? ” 

She assented with a melancholy smile. 

“You kinder b’long to us, Vile, you know,” 
continued Obed, “ although you did quit us without 
saying anything about it, or lettin’ us know when 
you went or where you were goin’. We kin keep 
you — can’t we, Cynthia ? — ^just as long as ^you care 
to stay. Make yourself to hum.” He turned to 
leave the room and return to his newspaper, where 
he was struggling with an account of some recent 
serious troubles with the Creek Indians in the 
estates of Georgia and Alabama. 

“ I’ve come to stay,” Alita replied ; and she was 
unconsciously prophetic in her utterance. 

“ So much the better, then,” said the hospitable 
Obed, not understanding the full meaning of her 
words. 

She delayed not very long there, not even sit- 


184 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


ting in response to Mrs. Bunn’s frequent request, 
but started very soon for the Great Plains and the 
Mound. Close at her side was Dandylion, in a half 
trot, for her long, rapid strides were more like 
those of a man than one of her own sex. 

As she passed through the streets of the village 
she attracted great attention, men standing in the 
doorways of their stores calling to others to come 
and look ; women gazing at her from the windows 
with curiosity, and little children following a little 
ways in her footsteps and turning back from her 
with some little trepidation in their faces and 
movements. 

From her countenance one could not have told 
what were her emotions as she stood once more on 
the plateau and walked toward ^Hhe house.” The 
whole premises were not a pleasing sight to an 
ordinary e^’^e. They looked totally and utterly 
neglected, the house ” weather-beaten and dis- 
mantled. The roads and footpaths were all over- 
run with weeds and briers, fences were down, 
blinds gone and window-panes broken. It had the 
pitiful air belonging to a man who has seen better 
days. 

Doors were wide open and there was no let or 
hindrance to the entrance of any one who chose to 
go in. Then she entered the house,” going from 
room to room without an}^ especial purpose appar- 
ent, but looking curiously as she proceeded here 
and there. Then she went up to the roof, and her 
stay there was long, so long that the impatience 
of Dandy lion became very apparentr 

The ancient stories and traditions of the place 
were revived and repeated on the reappearance of 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


185 


Alita, and were related at the firesides in the even- 
ing*, with many exaggerations and additions, all 
acquiring more or less verisimilitude from her pres- 
ence that was so much at variance with what most 
of the inhabitants had been accustomed to all their 
lives. 

It did not decrease the interest in the place, nor 
the feeling that was almost awe with which it was 
regarded, to have a1>undantly circulated the stories 
that many passers-by had to relate — farmers com- 
ing early into town or going late to their homes, 
and others for one reason or another who were 
called to the vicinity — of how they had seen the 
dark-haired woman sitting in the moonlight on the 
front porch, or greeting the rising sun from the 
highest pinnacle of the roof, of lights glimmering 
at midnight in some of the rooms, and of strange 
sounds that came from the premises at unexpected 
times. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE OLD COURT HOUSE IS USED FOR THE LAST TIME. 

After many heart-burnings, jealousies, bitter 
words and taunts almost leading to blows, the site 
for the new Court House had been selected. There 
had been great strife, contentions and continual 
effort, but the upper settlement had won. It was 
far away from the old log structure that had served 
so many years in its various capacities — as a hall 
of justice, a church and a Masonic temple. The 
new building was for the day a very pretentious 
structure, with a cupola modeled after a Grecian 


186 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

temi^e, in which swung a hell. There were tall 
pillars in front, a spacious courtroom in the second . 
stor^^, offices on the ground floor and in the two 
eastern corners, with w'alls inlaid with stone and 
heavy oak timber, and thick doors of oak heavily 
studded with nails, cells for prisoners. 

The supervisors had expected to have the court- 
room, at least, ready for the term of court appointed 
for the latter part of September, but they had been 
disappointed in their men and in their work. The 
day arrived and it was not ready. Whatever exer- 
cises had been intended for the occasion — and quite 
a programme had been prepared — they would have 
to be postponed for at least two months, and the 
court would have to sit in the old log house down 
by the bank of the creek. 

The presiding justice was disposed to be very 
much displeased at the delay and threatened to 
adjourn the term until suitable accommodations 
were prepared. He had much reason for his irrita- 
tion and proposed action. The old log building had 
entirely outlived its usefulness. It stood firm and 
stanch, to be sure, but the courtroom itself was in 
a very shabby condition. Boards were loose in the 
floor, the desks were shaky and unstable, the doors 
were some of them off their hinges or swung on one, 
the windows had scarcely a whole pane of glass in 
them, and the sash rattled and shook with ever^^ 
motion, the passage of a heavy man over the floor 
or breath of wind above a breeze. It was indeed 
hardly the place for the Supreme Court of the State 
to set up its standard and dignitjL Much of its 
situation arose from what had been considered a 
certainty, that the new building would be completed 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


187 


in time, and t]iat it would be a waste of the peo- 
ple's money to make any repairs on the ancient, 
and, as one called it, “ ramshackly " old concern. 

But as it happened, the calendar was unusually 
full and there were a number of cases of more than 
ordinary importance to be tried. Some of these 
had been set down intentionally because of the new 
building. Suitors, jurors, witnesses and lawyers 
were ready and it would have been a hardship to 
have put over the term pressing matters in which 
considerable interests were at stake. 

The justice finally, but rather ungraciously, v/as 
prevailed upon to smother his discontent and irri- 
tation and go on with his term. 

It was the last session of court ever held in the 
old log building, and it was a marked one. 

The days dragged along in discomfort and in- 
convenience, and perhaps it would have been bet- 
ter, at least some of the suitors so thought, if the 
term had not been held, for the justice was petu- 
lant and out of temper from beginning to conclu- 
sion. 

But everything must finally come to an end. 
It was on Friday night, at nearly nine a'ulock of 
the closing day and evening. of the term. Every- 
thing had been cleaned up in good shape and the 
last jury of the term were about to go out, loaded 
with the responsibility of the final case. 

The justice had begun to instruct them before 
they retired, that they might return a sealed ver- 
dict, and had half risen from his chair to adjourn 
court, when he. was interrupted by the voice of 
General Mark Vincent from the bar. 

General Vincent stood at the head of his profes- 


188 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


sion in all that region, greatly respected as a man 
as well as a lawyer. His military record in the re- 
cent war had been a proud one, and it was being 
equaled, if not surpassed, by the record he was 
making in the courts. He was a tall, well-formed 
man, with a handsome face and a sweet, winning 
voice, deep and musical. When he spoke, there- 
fore, people stopped to listen, as the justice did 
now, and they were never sorry for it. 

All courts in those days, no matter what the 
case on trial, were well attended by the people in 
general. The amusements of the day were by no 
means as plentiful then as now, and there was 
something in a trial at law that was entertaining 
to the average mind. The lawyers helped to make 
it so, and, when opportunity offered, never failed 
to bring out or develop a point that would please 
the audience. It made so much for their case and 
increased their reputations in the community. 

On this Friday evening the courtroom was full, 
fuller than it should have been for the comfort of 
every one present. Hot that anything especial was^ 
expected ; but it was the final night of the term, 
and that almost always brought out something en- 
tertaining. 

It had been a September day of unusual loveliness 
until about three o’clock in the afternoon, when 
clouds, thick, heavy and black, began to appear in 
the west, and before it was dark, obscured the | 
heavens. A plodding farmer, raising his eyes from 
the ground long enough to take an observation, 
said : 

I reckon it’s the beginnin’ of the equinoctial.” 

General Mark Vincent apologized to the court 




THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


189 


for his interruption, asking* that the jury might be 
dismissed to their deliberations with no direction as 
to returning their verdict. He had a matter to 
bring before the court that might give the jury 
ample time to come to their conclusion before he 
had quite completed. 

The justice sank back in his chair just a little 
impatiently and the jury was allowed to retire. It 
was due to General Vincent, so the justice allowed, 
that any matter he had to present should have a 
hearing. 

^^This is a most unusual proceeding, General 
Mark Vincent began ; but not more unusual than 
the facts with which it has to do. I have taken it 
up with reluctance and some little apprehension, 
only within the last hour coming to the conclusion 
that it is the only solution of a mysterious and 
troublesome question. I stand here the representa- 
tive of the people of this locality and of the highest 
ojfficer of the county. Thrown back less than a 
hundred and fifty years and a far different proceed- 
ing from this would have been possible with a vic- 
tim ready at hand.' We are in the midst of circum- 
stances in harmony with the question I am about 
to present. The patter of the rain without, the 
rising wind, the distant thunder audible with its 
rattling roll and dying away in a groan, these dim 
candles sputtering and flickering with every draught 
and serving only to make the general gloom more 
distinct, seem but suitable surroundings amid which 
to relate what I have to say.” 

The rich, smooth voice of General Vincent, 
modulated to a tone equally in harmony with his 
surroundings, dropped upon no unwilling, ears, the 


190 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


justice even regarding* him with an awakened in- 
terest. As for the audience — ^ ^ hystand ers, ’ ' as the 
justice repeatedly called them during the term — 
they craned their necks over those before them and 
envied the lucky ones who were in front. 

I know not what you can do/’ pursued Gen- 
eral Vincent. I have no suggestion to make. I 
rely on the well-known and often-trusted wisdom of 
this court tp find a way out of the tangle, to bring 
relief and an equitable adjustment. I speak of a 
matter of common notoriety and ever3’'-day talk in 
this locality. It may not have reached, it is not at 
all likel^^ that it has reached or will ever reach, the 
ears of the outer world, shut in as is this valley by 
itself — but the truth exists. I refer to a piece of 
land not very far from the spot on which we 
stand, which should be one of the most prolific 
and valuable as it could be made one of the 
most beautiful spots on the face of God’s 
fair earth. There are in this piece of land, I 
am informed, nearly two hundred acres, with a 
house and outbuildings convenient and spacious. 
The buildings are dismantled, the home of owls and 
bats, the land a wild, uncared for, wretched waste 
now, grown up with weeds and choked with scrub 
oak and a tangled mass of briers and thistles. 
Corn will not grow there, nor wheat, nor any of 
the fruits that the kindly earth seems eager else- 
where to produce for the sake of man. Before it 
fell into the hands of the officers of the law, I care 
not for it, I have nothing to do with it. Let that 
portion of the history of the place rest, if it will 
rest. And I will be brief, although I could elabo- 
rate indefinitely and conjecture without limit. 


THE HOUSE TEKRIBUE. 


191 


speaking* from a feeling something of awe and' 
something of horror, that no man without difficulty 
can entirely suppress, as when one contemplates 
the action of an element that he cannot understand 
and knows he cannot control. 

The taxes remained on the place and accumu- 
lated unpaid, until the time required hy law had 
expired, when it was advertised for sale. A gentle- 
man from Columbia County bought it for only a 
few dollars above the taxes, the total only a pitiful 
sum compared with the real value of the property. 
He bought it because it was cheap and simply for a 
speculation. Coming to look upon it, he was so 
charmed with it that be decided to adopt it as his 
permanent home. He improved it in all ways inside 
and out as to its grounds and surroundings, and fur- 
nisbed it with an elegance to wbicb this locality until 
bis time bad been a stranger^ He was a strong, 
bearty man, in the prime of bis bealtb and vigor. 
He came with bis family one Tuesday to occupy the 
place that he had made so attractive. On the Fri- 
day succeeding he died aniiid all his elegant sur- 
roundings. Men must die, and taken alone, without 
that which preceded or which followed the evenc, 
it was not unusual or uncommon, excepting in the 
fact that no reason or cause was ever discovered or 
made known as to his sudden ^Haking off.” I 
cannot explain it ; I am not here to explain it ; no 
one can explain it. There is no explanation. I am 
not dealing in explanations. I am relating facts, 
such as can be substantiated, if any substantiation 
is needed, by the sworn testimony of any of these 
that you might choose to select in this crowded 
room.” 


192 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

There was a general movement at this through- 
out the room, and a very slight murmur, easily 
made out to be one of assent. It lasted only an 
instant, however, and the , utmost quiet followed. 
It was easy to see that General Vincent never 
spoke in the hearing of a more attentive or inter- 
ested gathering, as he proceeded. 

"^What followed?'*’ he continued. George 
Perkins — every one knows him here, I doubt not he 
is now listening to my voice, was and still is a 
prosperous farmer — located on the Great Plains. 
He had been fortunate in his dealings and business 
and wanted to build for himself a finer house and 
barns than he had, something more in harmony 
with his condition and prosperity. His daring I 
respect, but in his judgment, in the light of what 
had passed, I have little faith and in his misfortune 
I s^^mpathize. He hii^a the place, it was next to his 
own, while his premises were undergoing improve- 
ments. He moved into Hhe house’ and laughed 
at the fears and prophecies of his neighbors, as 
everjThing went on swimmingly w*ith him. His 
own new house and large barns with other out- 
houses were completed, and onty the next daj^ he 
was to return to his own home. That very night 
he was deprived of it and its surroundings. His 
new house with its new furniture and appointments, 
and his barns with some horses and cattle, in the 
morning were a heap of ashes ! In the dead of 
the night they had burned to the ground. That 
same day George Perkins, with his family, took up 
their quarters elsewhere. 

Every one,” continued General Vincent, ^^wiil 
remember Commodore Coburn. He was a Hew 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


193 


Bedford whaler and had accumulated a fortune in 
his business. His many enterprises in this valley 
yet live to tell of the shrewdness of his foresight 
and Judgment. He bought ‘ the house ’ and lived 
within its m 3 ^sterious walls for little less than twice 
twelve months. When he was taken from there it 
would have been better had he gone to his tomb. 
He was a raving maniac ! 

Still another and the next. Andrea Pinot, a 
French weaver, came here and established the 
mills at the foot of the hill, that still bear his 
name. Volatile and light-hearted as his racefhe 
cared for nothing except his work and such beauty 
as he could find in his home life. Was he a victim 
to Hhe house,’ which with his family he occupied 
less than a year ? From it he came to his office in 
the mills one sunny day and, sitting in an easy- 
chair there, with no premonition, no indication of 
what was so close upon him, died with a je^t warm 
on his lips ! 

Again did the taxes increase and accumulate, 
remaining unpaid, and again the place came up for 
sale in Albany. Nobody would buy. It was lit- 
erally flung back into the possession of the sfieriff. 
1 touch on tender grounds . now. We all knew 
Eugene Merritt. His melancholy career and fate 
come clbser to us because of the tender feeling we 
all had for him and because of his many manly and 
lovable characteristics. For more than fourteen 
years he had been the honored and respected 
sheriff of this great county. From one furthest 
corner to the other of it he was known and pos- 
sessed the regard and esteem of all to an unusual 
and marked degree. Outside of his official position 


194 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


he was largely engaged in trade. He had filled his 
bins with grain to the advantage and profit of the 
growing farmer community. It . all awaited a 
favoring moment to be floated down the river to 
its market. We all remember the embargo of the 
war, a ridiculous, mistaken, ruinous, almost crimi- 
nal policy — adopted temporarily, let us be thank- 
ful, by the Government — and trade of all kinds was 
thrown flat upon its back. The grain was not 
moved. It could not be moved. It lay and rotted 
in its bins. But it had to be paid for, or ruin stared 
him in the face. It could not be paid for. It was 
not paid for, except as a man can pay his active 
debts by paying that great debt that Nature ex- 
acts from us all. That was the way Eugene Mer- 
ritt paid it, and not even waiting to be asked, but 
taking the matter into his 'own hands ! 

^^This brings us to the present moment. For 
two years, now, our friend here, Willard Grisselj 
has held the important post — the highest ofldcial 
position in the county — of sheriff. I will not allude 
to sorrows that are too fresh to him, too well 
know;p to the whole community, certainly to this 
court, to be told in detail. Of unforeseen and unex- 
pected disasters that have reached out to him, as 
it were, from a shadow or gloom that he por any 
one else can penetrate.” 

General Vincent stopped for a moment, looking 
closely at the court and then back upon the throng 
that stood behind him and on every side. The 
court was evidently interested and all were curi- 
ous. 

I have been as brief as I could be,” presently 
continued General Vincent, and still as elaborate 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


195 


as necessarj^ to give this court a clear understand- 
ing of this matter, not in the way of attempted ex- 
planation, but for a foundation on which to base my 
application for relief. I have simply to ask, there- 
fore, that this court in its wisdom will find some 
means to relieve its careful and competent officer 
from the dangerous, it is too much to say frightful, 
burden he believes he is carrying, in having in his 
possession, nominally and really, this piece of prop- 
erty, that, since its first occupation by a white 
man, has left a long trail of sorrow and disaster 
clinging to every one to whom it belonged, who 
came into possession of it or who used it. It would 
seem that it carries a curse upon it which could not 
be lifted even by the best and the purest in heart.*’ 
The justice softly folded his hands one over the 
other and leaned forward over his desk. 

This is all very strange arid unusual,” he said. 
^^Jhe court is at a loss to know why it should be 
brought before it, and but for the high character 
and standing of the brother who has presented the 
case> would dismiss it without further comment or 
consideration.” 

1 am aware,” replied General Vincent, of 
the extraordinary character of this proceeding, 
but the equally extraordinary circumstances of the 
case seem to excuse, if not warrant, its presenta- 
tion. I know of no manner in which it can be ad- 
justed except by the wise judgment of this court. 
And I might observe here, also, that without some 
determination and adjustment, the county will be 
without a sheriff. So well known are the circum- 
stances I have related, so much discussed not only 
have they been, but others of a more marked char- 


196 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


acter preceding these, that I much doubt if the 
Governor could prevail on a man in the limits of 
the whole county to assume the duties of the office. 
I am not superstitious, nor frightened at shadows, 
but I know I would hesitate long before I would 
accept the appointment, and doubt if I would accept 
it at all. One can defend himself when he can see 
what threatens him or knows the sources and re- 
sources of his antagonist. He fights a foolish and 
losing battle when he faces the darkness or a fog.’’ 

The court is at a loss to know in what manner^ 
it can interfere,” replied the justice. “ Cannot the 
property be given to some worthy, rugged and 
sturdy man ? ” 

I think it would be extremely difficult,” Gen- 
eral Vincent replied, to dispose of it in the man- 
ner suggested by the court. It is a common saying 
in the neighborhood that ^ no one would take it for 
a gift.’” 

Has there an earnest and persistent effort 
been made to sell this property ? ” the justice con- 
tinued. 

‘'^Earnest and persistent effort. Your Honor ! ” 
exclaimed General Vincent. Six times it has been 
advertised according to Faw and exposed for sale, 
and no bidders could be induced to look at it. Our 
friend here has a standing offer to pay the taxes 
due upon it and deed it clear to any one who would 
take it, receiving therefor not one penny of con- 
sideration.” 

And would no one have it ? ” asked the court, 
somewhat in dismay. 

No one ! ” 

The justice bent his head down upon his hand. 


THE . HOUSE TERRIBLE. 197 

apparentlj^ thinking- for a moment, and then, look- 
ing up, asked : 

Has my brother no suggestion to make ? ’’ 

•'I said I had none;’’ was the general’s reply, 
^ but I have— one. Yet I hesitate to make it 
known. These proceedings have been unusual, but 
that which I have to suggest is ^so much more in 
that character 'that it verges on the fantastic. If, 
after this statement, the court feels that it can 
• . . pardon what I have further to offer, I will make 
m3’- suggestion known.” ^ . 

After what has already been said,” the justice 
replied, the court is prepared for an3"thing. Pro- 
ceed.” 

m I • 

^~T~ 

[ • CHAPTER XXIV. 

; alita’s father didn’t tell lies. 

^ General Vincent turned his face toward the 
outer door, and searching the throng there col- 
^ lected, finally fixed his sharp eyes on one person and 
• beckoned with his forefinger. So dense were tlic 
people packed together that the movement in con- 
sequence was v^ry like a struggle. Two persons 
'f _ were endeavoring to make their way toward the 
^ bar. One was Alita or Violet, and the other 
Dand3dion. The court watched their approach 
with curiosit3^ and possibly with some little as- 
tonishment. Violet stood as erect and straight 
as an arrow, with bare head, and her long black 
hair flowing loosely over her shoulders. She seemed 
to come forward, not in the usually abject and 
^ fawning manner of her people, and especially the 
\ ' women, when placed in contact with the ‘^superior 


198 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

race,” but as though she was with those with whom 
she was certainly equal, and to some possibly a lit- 
tle superior. Her eyes were bright, and there was 
in her cheeks a heightened ^color, as much as her 
blood could show. She wore a dress ornamented 
with beads and feathers, over which was pinned a 
blanket similarly decorated, but of a subdued, un- 
obtrusive color. Right at her heels came Dandy- 
lion, with his eyes cast upon the flaoir and his right 
hand clutching her clothing. 

The justice had never had vouchsafed to him 
the sight of such an object, and his mind was 
divided between an admiration for the picturesque- 
ness of the spectacle and curiosity as to what she^pr 
he, or both, could have to do with General Vincent’s 
coming suggestion. He made no comment, how- 
ever, waiting for the two to press forward in the 
throng. 

Arrived at length at the bar. General Vincent 
pointed to a chair on the low platform at the side 
of the judge’s desk where witnesses were usually 
placed, and there Alita seated herself. Just below 
her at her feet on the platform Dandylion planted 
himself. - He watched General Vincent for a few 
-minutes, then turned his attention to the justice 
and finally fixed his eyes on Alita, from whom they 
seldom wandered during the remainder of the even- 
ing. 

The quiet in the courtroom, notwithstanding the 
thick crowd, was intense, only broken by the rising 
wind without that rattled the window sash and the 
muttering of thunder in the distance. 

I do not produce this — this — this person. Your 
Honor,” said General Vincent, hesitatingly, when 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


199 

Alita was “seated, ‘Mn the nature of a witness, for I ' , 
am not informed that she is capable of understand- f 
ing- the nature of an oath. I do not- wish her ^ 
sworn — ’’ ' . 

Whether she understood the nature of an oath 
or not, Violet apparently understood General Vin- :• 
centos allusion to her. 

I have only the truth to tell — ” she inter- " ; 
r up ted. 3 

General Vincent held up his hand toward her, 
feeling the implied rebuke, and she was silenced. 

Certainly,” he said to her, and to the court 
continuing : It is through her that my suggestion 1 
is to come.” And to her again : ‘^Tell His Honor,” 
he said, ^^what you told me one evening last 
week.” 

The justice wheeled around toward Alita and , 
.said gently, but earnestly: ‘‘Turn your fac'e to- ‘ V 1 
ward me while you speak.” He was evidently in- / " 

terested and curious, and said afterward and often ' ^ 

that the whole incident was one of the most marked { 
in his whole career, ' ^ 

Alita did as she was bidden. Her voice was 
smooth and well modulated, the intonation fitting 
well the matter. She was entirely freb from em- ' ^ 
barrassment or self-bonsciousness, speaking more ’’ 
as a child would talk, hesitating now and then over ^ 
a word or its pronunciation, but making her mean- - 'V J 
ing plain from the simplicity of her language. ' 

“I was born in this valley,” she said. “My J 
home is far to the west from here. Even beyond ;■ 
the great river. I know not how long it will be 
my home. people have been told : ‘ Go a little 
further ; go a little further,' and we have gone. In _ 


200 THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 

all this big country we who once owned it find at 
the end hardlj^ a place large enough left to lay for- 
ever our^ poor bodies. From my home I have 
walked to this spot. Every foot of the way. More 
than four months ago I started.’’ 

The justice raised his hand. 

Do you understand me and why you are 
here ? ” he asked. If so, do not wander. Tell 
us only that which has to do with the cause that 
brings you here. Do you understand ? ” 

This was not complimentary to Violet’s intelli- 
gence, and would not have been reassuring to any 
one less composed and self-reliant than was she. 
She very calmly and slowly bowed her head, saying 
in reply : 

I have come back here to get my own.” 

‘^Yes^’’ General Vincept interrupted, ^^tell the 
court only what you told me.” 

Long before the great battle that drove away 
and scattered my people from these valleys,” Alita 
resumed, he who became my father came into 
this country. He was like you, of your race. He 
became like us, of us. He was brave, noble and 
true. He taught us many things. He fought for 
us. We were better for his^ coming. My mother 
— his wife, as you would call her — was the first 
daughter of the head man of our tribe, such as you 
would call princess, queen, powerful — to be obeyed. 
There came the great battle on the hillside and after 
it your people. Mine w^ere dispersed. My mother 
died. My father, wounded and sick, stayed in this 
valley. I was only a child. Your people were kind 
to him— they were of his race. He paid them back 
as he could by his influence over my people, stop- 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


201 


ping* many a danger and threatening trouble by 
quick warning. I know he loved me. I was all 
he had. Sometimes I can feel his arm about me 
and his tears falling on my face. I can hear him 
sa3" : ^ Poor little mite ! Poor little mite ! ’ He 
was no common man like these,” with a gesture 
of contempt toward the bystanders pressing up 
against the railing of the bar. More like that 
one,” and she pointed toward General Vincent 
standing a little way from her, listening. ‘^He 
taught me to speak his language from the first 
word I ever uttered, and I have never known 
other. We have been very, very hungry. We 
have been ver}^, very cold.” She pointed toward. 
Dand^dion at her feet, as though about to make 
some allusion to him. But the justice slightly 
raised his hand again and she stopped. He said 
nothing, but his face had no sternness in it. 

In a moment more she proceeded : 

Your people will be robbed of these lands by 
people like me,’ my father said to me many, many' 
times. I little knew and less cared what he meant 
when he said it. Whal should I do with all this 
land or even a small patch of it ? ' They will take 

it all away from you,’ )ie said, ‘ and give you 
just nothing in return, or so little as to be really 
nothing. But some of it is 3^ours anyhow. 
Ho one can take it from you and keep it. Some 
time the}^ will have to yield it up.’ One day, as I 
sat on his lap he took from his breast a crumpled 
bunch of something that looked to my eyes like a 
small roll of tanned sheepskin. It was not larger 
than my three fingers and about as big around. 
It was tied in the middle with a slender length of 


202 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


leather that had two long* ends. These he put 
about my neck and tied them at the back into a 
stout knot. ^Listen,’ he ‘'said to me, ^ listen^ 
and repeat after me what I say.’ He held me 
with his strong eyes looking into mine. ^Your 
grandmother, the queen, gave this to your mother, 
your mother gave' it to me to give to you. You 
are the last. You are the only one left who has 
the right to it. You don’t know what it is now. 
When you grow to be a big, strong woman, learn 
to read it, use it, and you will never be hungry or 
cold. It will bring to you all you need.’ Not 
once nor twice, but so often that the words were 
burned into my memory, were they repeated to me 
and repeated by me, accompanied by a journe^^ to 
the Mound and the circle, where my father pointed 
in each direction to some easily discerned object. 
I knew not then what was meant. I know now. 
My father died — ” 

For a moment or two Alita stopped, as though 
hesitating as to what was to follow. She took a 
long breath, and still further straightened her 
already erect form. 

“ I was a child,” she continued, slowly. ‘^My 
father’s words came true right away. They took 
what I thought was mine. I watched them dig 
and dig and build, one stone over another, one 
stone over another. I hid myself in the woods, 
and in the hut where my father died. This poor 
thing,” pointing to Dandylion at her feet, came 
to me with more food than I could eat and more 
clothing than I could wear. How could I drive 
these off froni the land that was mine ? I was a 
child, alone, half-wild, half-crazed. ‘The house’ 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


203 


was done. I went into it. Whoever was there, I 
had to m3"self, where no one could disturb me, 
twelve rooms therein ! 

There was a very audible stir and a perceptible 
murmur in the crowd at these words, and a sound 
like that often heard in an interested assemblag-e, 
as thoug^h there was one pair of lungs to them all 
and they were drawing a long breath.. 

Alita again hesitated, but, again drawing her- 
self up, continued : ^-'They were at the bottoms of 
the large columns at the two ends of ^ the house.’ 
There were little strips of wood nailed on the in- 
side, to make more firm the pieces of wood out of 
Avhich the columns were made. They were like stairs 
or ladders. I could go up or down as swiftly as a 
bird Avould fly. And Avith a piece of board I could 
shut myself in, in the hiding-place, where no one 
could see me and Avhere no one Avould think that 
any one could be. But it Avas all foolish ancj use-, 
less. I Avas a mere child — alone, half-wild, half- 
crazed. It Avas all mine; it was not all mine. It 
Avj^.s not the way my father told me it wa.s to be 
mine. These went and others came ; still these 
also Avent and others came. And there cafne one 
Avhom I could not frighten and whom I learned to 
fear. He bolted and nailed up the door that led to 
my hiding-places. I freed ^ the house ’ of my pres- 
ence, leaving everj^ outer door wide open to show 
that it- had all gone, and in the rain and lightning 
set out to find m3" oAvn people.” 

Again Alita paused and hesitated, and again 
the one pair of lungs of the audience seemed to 
heaA^e a great sigh of relief. 

^'Go on,” said the justice. 


204 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


I found them/’ proceeded Alita, after weeks 
and weeks of travel, that made my feet sore and 
my body ache. I am a woman, now. I have 
waited. I know what that which my father gave 
me says. I want the land that belonged to my 
forefathers and that belongs to me. For that pur- 
pose am I here. For that purpose I have returned 
with a long and tiresome journey. Give it to me. 
Let not my coming be in vain. He ” — pointing to 
General Vincent — has told me that this is your 
great council fire, where everything is made right 
and where everything is made possible. I want 
my land and the land of my forefathers, that I nor 
they ever gave up. Give it to me.” 

There was no pleading or piteous appeal in the 
words or tone. Rather a demand that what she 
asked for was hers by right and justice, an unmis- 
takable belief in the soundness of her claim, an un- 
wat^^ring faith in her father and that which he had 
given her. 

General Vincent, by many an exploit, had 
gained, as he deserved, the reputation of a wag ; 
and there began to grow up in the mind of the 
justice a lurking suspicion that his learned friend 
was in the process of putting some joke or burlesque 
upon him. He could not, however, be]iev.e fully 
that such a disrespectful motive* was in the gener- 
al’s mind or at the bottom of his proceedings. He 
looked around at him, however, and the expression 
of the general’s face reassured him. He was prob- 
ably the most interested and deeply engrossed 
person in the whole courtroom. 

^^Let us get back to the nineteenth century 
again,” said the judge, and addressing Alita; 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


205 


Where is this mysterious packag-e that you say 
your father gave you ? If you have it with you, 
let us have a look at it.’’ 

Alita took from her bosom a little roll such as 
she had described, now having the appearance of a 
package of stained and half-used cigar-lighters. 
She passed the slender leathern string over her head 
and reached it all toward the justice, who, taking 
it very gingerly^— for it was not a very inviting- 
lopking object — bade her untie and open it. This 
she did readily and spread an open sheet of parch- 
ment, about the size of two hands, on the desk be- 
fore him. He pulled a candle toward"him on each 
side and looked closely at the document. It was 
not whole, but seemed to have been smoothly cut 
from a larger sheet. What writing could be seen 
was clear and distinct, but the creases in the folding 
and the natural decay had obliterated much of it. 

The room was preternaturally still while the 
justice bent over the worn parchment. Presently 
he raised his eyes. 

Curious,” he observed, but not worth very 
much these days. Take a look at it, general.” 

General Vincent took the parchment. He, too, 
examined it very closelj^. "" From my point of 
view,” he said, very quietly and with meaning, 
^^it is not only curious, but also of considerable 
value. Let me read it, or such portions as I can 
read. Jt is evidently a grant of land, the full de- 
scription of which has been cut away. It begins : 
‘ — excepting the Mound and circle and — ’ I can- 
not make out the figures — ^ so many feet adja- 
cent thereto on either side, which shall remain to 
Queen Esther and the heirs of her body forever.’ ” 


206 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


General Vincent held the parchment closer to 
his eyes and the candle closer to the parchment, in 
a moment more uttering* an exclamation of sur- 
prise. ^^This comes from very high authority. 
Your Honor,” he said, for down here in one 
corner is the signature of his excellency, William 
Tr^^on', Governor- General of the Province of New 
York, and in the other corner the signature of no 
less an exalted personage than Gebrgius Rex ! ” 

The justice was evidently beginning to gro^y a 
little impatient at the bantering tone in which the 
general had spoken. ^^Let us bring this irregular 
and wholly unprecedented proceeding to an end,” 
he said, rather querulously, perhaps to hide his 
doubt and indecision. ^ You said you would have a 
suggestion to make, founded on the statement or re- 
lation of this person. The court is ready to hear it.” 

The demeanor of the general changed to one of 
sober earnestness. I undertook to engage in this 
business,” he said, at the earnest prayer and so- 
licitation o^. my good friend here. Sheriff Grissel. 
It is no matter of joke or jest to him, but one of 
grave and serious import. I regret if I have seemed 
to throw any levity into these proceedings. Such 
has been far from my heart or my intentions. My 
suggestion is that the court issue an order direct- 
ing the sheriff to convey by deed to this person the 
land in controversy or dispute, not as to who shall 
have it, but as to who shall not have it. A very 
abnormal condition of affairs.” 

''Is my learned brother,” asked the justice, 
"exactly humane in his suggestion? Would he 
shift .such an incubus as he has described this one 
to be on to the shoulders of this poor creature ? ” 


THE HOUSE TERRIBL'E. 


207 


'^Such seems to be the fate of the expiring race 
to which she belongs,” General Vincent replied. 
‘‘To bear burdens, hardships and sorrows.. One 
more individual instance will make a small, hardly 
appreciable addition to the sum total. And, justice 
being done, or what is apparent justice in this iso- 
lated case, it might cease to be an incubus there.” 

Meanwhile Alita had reached over and once more 
got into her possession the piece of parchment and 
was intently watching the speakers, hardly under- 
standing what was going on. 

“ And the taxes ? ” suggested the justice. “ How 
will that claim be satisfied ? ” 

“Sometimes such creatures,” the general ob- 
served, “have money hidden away somewhere.” 
Then addressing Alita, he added : “ There are 
taxes due on the land. Can you pay them ? ” 

“ Pay ? ” was the reply of Alita, with some lit- 
tle indignation showing in her face. “Pay for 
what is my own ? ” * 

“ V^e all have to pay taxes here on what is our 
owb,” the general said, with something of a sigh. 
“ Have you any money at all ? ” 

Alita slowly shook her head. 

The general stooped over as he spoke toward 
the sheriff, sitting just at his elbow, who had whis- 
pered something in his ear. 

“ The sheriff himself will pay those if it becomes 
necessary to do so,” the general said, as he rose 
again to an upright position. 

“ The proceeding then is in the sound discretion 
of the court,” he continued in a moment, observing 
a look of growing uncertainty or indecision on the 
face of the justice. “ It is simply as if a discharge 


208 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE, 


of judgment was entered order of the court on 
the application of the ci^edltor to release the debtor, 
or on the offer of a solvent third party to assume 
the obligation. It is more than that — simpiy an 
ordinary sale for taxes with the consequent order 
of the court that the sheriff shall convey the prop- 
erty to the purchaser, by deed. There is cer- 
tainly no one in this case who is going to inquire 
hereafter at all closely into the matter of the con- 
sideration paid or by whom paid.’’ 

For a moment or two the justice sat thoughtful, 
with his hands folded on the desk before him. Then 
lifting his eyes, he turned to the clerk and directed 
him to draw such an order as General Vincent had 
described. 

I have one prepared here,” the general said, 
reaching a slip of paper up to the desk of the jus- 
tice. In a moment more it was read and signed. 

What followed, followed with great rapidity. 

During all the proceedings the storm without 
had been like a battle raging in the distance, with 
the advantage first on one side and then on the 
other of the contending parties, now there being 
an advance and then a retreat and then advance. 
All the tumult and excitement would one moment 
seem close at hand, ready to engulf and overwhelm 
them, then a lull and silence as though all was over. 
It came at length in full force and vehemence, like 
when an army surprises its foe, just at the conclu- 
sion of the proceedings, as though the more fully 
to emphasize its action. The judge had hardly 
affixed his signature to the order when there came 
a gust sweeping against the house and rattling the 
doors and windows that made even him look up 


THE HOUSE TEKRIBLE. 


209 


rather anxiously from the paper where he had writ- 
ten his name. There was a great whirl of the wind 
ai*S a rush of rain and sleet, a blinding sheet of 
lightning and an instant response from the air clos- 
ing together, after making way for the electricity 
to force itself through. 

regular witch’s frolic,” General Vincent 
said to- one standing near him as he watched the 
judge sign the order, then taking it and stepping 
toward the chair where Alita sat. She touched 
him on the arm and he turned toward her. 

“What is to be done? ’’she asked. 

“ Nothing more- The land is yours,” the gen- 
eral replied, and he moved back to where the 
sheriff sat, handing to him the order of the court. 

“Mine ? All mine ! ” asked and answered Alita, 
rather to herself than as addressing any one, and 
leaning back in her chair she murmured with satis- 
fied emotions: “My father’s words have indeed 
come true.” 

She had hardly uttered the words, indeed they 
were not all completely out of her mouth, when the 
fury of the storm seemed to concentrate itself 
around the little building. There were another 
whirl of the wind, another blinding glare of the 
lightning and another crash of the re-united air. 
The rattling windows were blown in, there were the 
tinkle and clinking of breaking and broken glass, 
every cfCndle in the room was extinguished, the 
building shivered and the platform whereon the 
judge’s desk sat trembled for an instant as does a 
vessel when it strikes upon a rock. Amid it all 
there was one cry of the intensest agony heard 


210 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


above even the roar of the winds, and the deep 
rumbling’ of the thunder, followed by other screams, 
shrieks and oaths of terror, increased and intensi- 
fied by the utter darkness and ignorance of what 
had happened or of the danger that yet threat- 
ened, if any. 

No one was able to understand or comprehend 
it all. Enough could be made out, though not by 
the eyesight so much as by intuition or the sense 
of feeling^Hihat the building was intact. More than 
this, nr whether or not any one had been hurt, no 
one could tell. Some had sprung from the doors 
and windows, onh^ to be driven back b^^ the drench- 
ing rain. One man, kneeling shivering and fright- 
ened in one corner, was making frantic efforts with 
a bit of steel and stone to light a lantern that ^tood 
on the floor. It was some time before the strong 
and reassuring voice of General Vincent could be 
heard above the cries of terror and dismay and the 
roar of the wind. It sounded then like a man cr}"- 
ing to them from a distance. 

Stand still and be quiet,” he cried. Is any 
one harmed ? If so, let him speak and let the rest 
be silent.” 

The wind howled and whistled through the bro- 
ken windows and cracks in reply, but there was no 
answer of human voice to the words of the general. 
There was a little gleam of light in one corner. A 
spark from the tinder on the floor, a breath or two 
from somewhat trembling lips, a blaze from a tiny 
bit of paper, and then one of the candles from the 
judge’s desk was lit. At the same moment several 
lanterns, rude affairs of candle and tin, shot out 
little streaks of light from various parts of the 


THE HOUSE' TERRIBLE. 


211 


room, making* the whole spectacle more unreal, un- 
substantial and nightniare-like. 

' There was something on the spot where Alita 
had been sitting that could not be distinctly made 
out. Something that had not been there before 
the^fierce blast had struck the building. It looked 
dark, ominous and big to the imagination in the 
deep “shadow, like a gigantic hand and arm that 
had been thrust through the window from the 
tumult without. 

'"A light! hand up that light! Quick!” ex- 
claimed both the judge and General Vincent. A 
dim lantern was passed along to them with its 
narrow door open. It seemed an age before it 
arrived or could be turned accurately to light up 
the spot upon which they would look. 

The strongest nerves would have quivered with 
terror, the ruddiest cheek would have blanched at 
the sight thej^aw lit by the flickering light of the 
candle and made more impressive by the shadow 
rather than the light it cast. 

Alita had been sitting within only a few inches 
of a window, one of the two largest in the room on 
either side of the judge’s desk. Through this win- 
dow was thrust the trunk of an oak tree that had 
been twisted from its rekoj^ by the fury of the blast 
and whirled through the air^ You could see by the 
wrenched splinters and fibers of the wood how fierce 
had been the force that had caught and undone the 
growth of years. The strength of the heavy logs 
of the building and the solidity with which they 
had been piled up was all that prevented the up- 
rooted oak from ripping it from its foundations 
and bearing it along in its ungovernable course. 


■ n . . 

212 THE HOUSE TEJIRIBLE. 

The trunk of the oak was thrust into the window 
as far as its lowermost branches, and wedgM there 
as firmly as is the main spar of a schooner fastened 
to the keel. And underneath it, mangled, torn and 
bleeding in one almost indistinguishable mass, as 
though both had been crushed down together bj^ 
the mighty blow, lay the apparently lifeless b^ies 
of Alita and Dandylion ! 

CHAPTER XXV. 
god’s ACRE. 

The storm had abated and hM rolled off in its 
course before the two bodies were released from 
their terrible plight, and to do it, much of the plat- 
form had to be torn awa 3 ^ 

They were borne to the house of Obed Bunn. 
Dandylion never recovered his consciousness, but, re- 
leased from a life that was at best only a mockery, 
was laid away from the sight of i^n forever, but 
not from their memory for many a year. 

Alita, crushed and mangled, with the vitality of 
her race that is shown nationalh^ as well as indi- 
viduall}^ every day, feebly, in a day or two, gath- 
ered her senses together. She moaned and sighed 
for hours, not with physical pain, her physicians 
averred, but with mental ^quietude. She was too 
severeh^ hurt by the §hock, too benumbed to feel 
much bodily pain. It was some time before it could 
be made out what she said or what was the cause 
of her complaint, for although she assuredly uttered 
words, they were too indistinct and disconnected to 
be understood. Prom Mrs. Obed Bunn, and the 
whole people of the Point, she received the ten- 
derest care. If a mere modicum of the considern - 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


213 


tion that was now being* fairly showered upon her 
had been g'iven her as a girl, it would be safe to as- 
sume that she would never have been the wreck 
that she was. 

As the days passed on she brightened wonder- 
fully mentally, while weakening physically ; but it 
was a melancholy brightening, an intelligence 
shining through tears, not smiles. 

‘‘1 am only like my race. Doomed, doomed ! 
came to be known to be the burden of her moans. 
^^We cannot stand before the strangers. We fall at 
their approach as do our forests. And God Him- 
self seems to help them, not us ! Let me die.’’ 

She sent for General Vincent, and he came' a 
number of times to see her, his visits being brief, 
for she was too weak to bear any exertion for any 
great length of time. 

A wonderful woman ! A remarkable wo- 
man ! ” he said to Obed Bunn more than once. 

Given education and culture, she would have been 
fitted for any sphere where women are eminent. A 
leader anywhere she might have chosen. And 
what wonder ! She comes of a long ancestry of 
chieftains, men who for their whole lives have been 
accustomed to command. Does not- blood tell ^n . 
other countries and in other races ? Why not in 
this ? ” 

General Vincent was apparently somewhat'puz- 
zled, too.^ ^ 

He came to her one day with a very indetermi- 
nate expression of countenance, and as though tak- 
ing up a conversation where it had been left off at 
a previous interview, he said to her : 

They won’t have it.” 


214 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


Her black eyes, with the unnatural g’limmer of 
death jn them, looked strang-ely upon him. 

Neither the supervisors nor the town officers,’^ 
continued the g*eneral, nor any one in the way of 
a trusteeship or corporation, or committee or indi- 
vidually. I am at a loss, I wull confess, how to dis- 
pose of it.” 

Still looking" at him strangeh% with a weak but 
impressive voice and a look like that of one inspired, 
Alita said : Give it to God ! ” 

This somewhat startled the general, and the 
thought flashed through his mind that he would 
hardly be able to find a precedent from, which he 
could draw the necessar}^ conveyances. But he did 
not give speech to his thought. 

He wflll care for it,” continued Alita. 

Another somewhat irreverent thought came to 
the general, that the right of eminent domain 
alreadj^ rested where she suggested it should be 
given, and any conveyance would simply be supere- 
rogator3^ And still he said nothing, for he desired 
to be of use tp her, to serve her and to please her, 
and he saw how earnestly she w’-as regarding him. 

"'Do it, soon,” she said, "and lay me at rest 
there. It is mine.” 

"I wflll try,” the general reassuringly replied, 
and left flier bedside. 

He came again in a few days, with a long paper 
on which *there was much writing. 

"I have spent much time over this,” he said to 
her. "I have studied it as I have studied nothing 
else in man3" a day, and I know it will hold.” 

He read it slowly to her. She understood it 
and was satisfied. He had added something and 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


215 


with that she was satisfied also. In the presence of 
Obed Bunn and his wife and an officer of the court, 
she being* too weak even for such slight exertion, 
the general guided her hand while she wrote at the 
end 6f the sheet, in plain characters, her name, 
‘“Alita,” and then answered just as clearly the 
questions put to her by the officer. 

Among the records of that county, worn and 
brown with age — and all can see it who choose to 
seek for it — is one of the most curious deeds ever 
penned by an attorney-^ or filed in the office of a 
county clerk. It is the gift or conveyance of a con- 
siderable portion of land ‘‘to God and the Dead, 
and to Him and them forever,” and the accurate 
description takes in as its central point the Mound. 

All of these things belong to a time of very 
many years ago, and seeming to be more from the 
incidents of vast and vital importance that have 
piled themselves up in the intervening period. But 
the place is there still, and wondrously beautified. 
It would seem that He to whom it was given has 
had it constantly under His special care, like that 
other place, “ beautiful for situation,” fitted to be 
“ the joy of the whole earth.” Ho one living owns 
or can own a single foot in it ; but any one can 
select, without money and without price, his own 
Tpot wherein, when he comes to die, he can be bur- 
ied. Every one living in the locality and many liv- 
ing elsewhere, who by chance came to hear of the 
place, have done something or added something of 
interest and beauty and value to the spot. It has 
more the appearance of a well-kept and’ constantly 
cared for private garden *than a great field that is 
the property of no one. Irregular paths and roads 


216 


THE HOUSE TERRIBLE. 


have been made through it and trees have been 
planted here and there, without regard to the sit- 
uation of other trees, and the}^ have thriven and 
grown. No one person has ever had the care of it 
or taken upon himself to control it in any way, all 
satisfied therein to bury their dead, and, with a 
reverence and remembrance that is natural to the 
human heart, to keep the surroundings of the grave 
neat and in perfect order. It was called at first 
the '^Oweenanalita Cemetery,” meaning the -^rest- 
ing-place of the wild fiowey? or violet,” but the name 
Jias become shortened bA^ the lapse of years into the 
Onalita Cemetery.” In it the first remains de- 
posited were those of Alita herself and of Dandy- 
lion, and the silent population has multiplied and 
increased there almost daih^ since. 

The house ” was untouched by maii for many 
years, being shunned by most of those who came 
within its neighborhood, and by all after the shades 
of night had fallen. The elements had full sweep 
and control over it, reducing it, month by month 
and year by year, to ruins, becoming rather pict- 
uresque than otherwise, and it now resembles a 
great heap of stones with vines clambering over it 
in great profusion, concealing what might be un- 
seemly or forbidding. 

A stone gateway has been built, by one kindly 
disposed and able, at the main entrance, somewhat 
imposing in size and architecture, and in the arch 
over it in a double scroll are the legends : 

“THE ONALITA CEMETERY.” 

“TO GOD AND THE DEAD.” 


THE END. 



Unequalled for Comfort and 
Durability. 

THE “KOSMO” CORSET 

Is constructed on an entirely new 
principle. Examine the hip section 
as shown in the illustration, and 
you will understand why it is impos- 
sible to break either the hip or side 

steels. The KOSMO” 

costs no more than an ordinary corset 
but will outwear SIX pair. 

Every merchaut Is authorized to ex- 
chauare the “ KOSMO” lor a ne^v pair, 
if the hip shoald break within three 
months. 

If you cannot secure the KOSMO ” 
from your dealer, remit $1.65 and we 
will send a sample pair, postage free, 
and warrant them for three months 
as above. 

REFERENCES: Any Bank, Exprem 
Co., or any responsible business lionse. 

LEWIS SCHIELE & CO., 

508 Broadway, New York. 

Sole Owners of Patent. 


IfHE POPULAR S. C. CORSETS 
ARE UNEXCELLED 

i In point of Comfort, Finish 
I Durability and Correct 
! Shape. 

Ij^Ladies should bear in mind that the 
I ‘ * 2 * * Corsets are made in long, 

hort and medium lengths to suit all forms, 
ind in every grade, from the cheapest to 
Inest qualities, and are equal in every re- 
pect to the finest imported or custom made 
orsets. 

SEE THAT EVERY CORSET IS STAMPED 

S. C. 

?RY THEM AND YOU’LL WEAR NO OTHER. 

For sale by all first-class dealers. Manu- 
'actured only by 



LEWIS SCHIELE & CO., 508 Broadway, H. T. 


Pears 

Soap 

Wholesome soap is 
one that attacks the 
dirt, but not the liv- 
ing skin. It is Pears’. 


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